BJD Renominates Former Congress MLA Anshuman Mohanty From Kendrapara (image-Anshumanbjd)Former Congress MLA from Rajanagar constituency in Odisha’s Kendrapara district Anshuman Mohanty has been renominated from Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency.
Son of late cabinet minister Nalinikanta Mohanty, the BJD candidate holds a Bachelor of Technology in Electronic Engineering degree from the Institute of Technical Education and Research under Utkal University in 2005. Mohanty won his first election in the state assembly elections in 2014. The former Congress MLA has also served as the party’s Kendrapara district president.
Following in the footsteps of his father, who represented the Rajnagar assembly constituency from 1997 until 2009, Mohanty also served as the Rajnagar MLA from 2014 to 2019. However, he lost the 2019 elections to BJD’s Dhruba Sahoo.
In February 14, while submitting his resignation letter, Mohanty expressed his gratitude to the Congress party leaders and fellow workers for their support. However, he refrained from disclosing the reason behind his resignation.
In 2018, Mohanty served a legal notice to Odisha Food Supplies and Cooperation Minister Surya Narayan Patro over allegations that the former’s relatives were involved in the false paddy procurement scam in Kendrapara as per the CAG report.
The BJP has fielded former Rajya Sabha MP Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, who won the Kendrapara seat in 2009 and 2014. The Congress has nominated Sidhartha Swarup Das to contest the elections from the Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency. Mohanty also challenged Patro, saying that if he could prove his controversial statements, then the former Congress MLA would resign. He further stated that if Patro failed to prove his claims, then he would have to submit his resignation.
The Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency comprises Vidhan Sabhas such as Salipur, Mahanga, Patkura, Kendrapara (SC reserved), Aul, Rajanagar, and Mahakalapada. According to the 2011 census, the SC population consists of 20.79 percent, 1.54 percent STs and 5.58 percent Muslim population.