Bhubaneswar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jagannath Pradhan Tuesday withdrew his nomination filed for the upcoming Rajya Sabha bypoll.
Pradhan asserted that as per the instructions of the party, he had filed the nomination papers and is now withdrawing them. The senior leader also stated that it was BJP’s internal strategy to field him as a candidate. He also thanked the party for selecting him to be a part of this planning.
“As a disciplined worker of BJP, I have successfully discharged the responsibility the party had assigned to me. I would like to thank my party leaders for giving me the responsibility,” Pradhan told media persons in Bhubaneswar.
Notably, Pradhan had contested the recently concluded 2024 general elections from the Bhubaneswar Central Assembly seat but lost to Biju Janata Dal’s Ananta Narayan Jena by only 37 votes.
Just a few hours after BJP leader Mamata Mohanta filed her nomination August 21, Pradhan too filed nomination papers for the byelections for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Odisha. He had filed the nomination as an independent candidate.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature for the Rajya Sabha polls is August 27 while the byelection for the lone Rajya Sabha seat is scheduled to be held September 3.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Rajya Sabha seat in Odisha has been lying vacant after Mamata Mohanta resigned from the membership of the upper house July 31, two years before the end of her term in Rajya Sabha.
Mohanta also tendered her resignation from the primary membership of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on the same day. She joined BJP the next day.
Mohanta, a noted social activist and leader of the Kudumi community, belongs to Mayurbhanj district in Odisha.
BJP August 20 announced Mohanta’s candidature for the byelections for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Odisha.
IANS