Bhubaneswar, Mar 25: Senior BJP leader Kharabela Swain today said that he will contest the upcoming polls as an independent candidate, a day after the saffron party announced the list of candidates for 18 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha.
Swain said that he will contest the polls as an independent candidate from the Balasore Parliamentary Constituency. As per reports, he was hopeful of getting the BJP ticket for the seat, but the saffron party fielded sitting MP Pratap Sarangi from the seat.
However, Swain has clarified that he would not resign from the party.
Addressing the media, Swain said, “I will contest the polls from Balasore as an independent candidate and rejoin BJP if I win. The party had nominated me from Kandhamal in the previous elections. However, I was interest to fight from Balasore this time. But due to certain vested interest groups, I was not granted a ticket.”
“I have no plans to resign from BJP, although the party has the option to expel me,” he added.
It is worth mention that Swain had secured the Balasore Lok Sabha seat in 1998, 1999 and 2004 as BJP candidate.
However, the saffron party fielded him from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat in 2019, where he lost to BJD’s Achyutananda Samanta.
