Speculations intensify whether Joy Dholakia will contest Nuapada by-election from BJD or switch to BJP
Speculations intensified whether Joy Dholakia will contest the upcoming Nuapada by-election from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ticket or switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Bhubaneswar: Speculations intensified whether Joy Dholakia will contest the upcoming Nuapada by-election from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ticket or switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Earlier it was assumed that BJD president Naveen Patnaik would announce party candidate’s name for the by-election after returning from his Delhi tour yesterday. Everyone was expecting that Patnaik would pick Joy Dholakia, the son of the late MLA Rajendra Dholakia, as the party candidate for the by-election. However, a buzz is going on whether he will contest Nuapada by-election from BJD or switch to BJP.
People especially associated with the state politics also have started to discuss what will be Plan B of the BJD or whom will the conch party field to contest the by-election if Joy Dholakia joins the saffron party.
The BJD supremo has already formed a Steering Committee for the upcoming by-poll comprising six senior leaders, including Prasanna Acharya, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Niranjan Pujari, Snehangini Chhuria, Tukuni Sahu, Niranjan Triyak, and Ayub Khan.
Notably, the by-poll in Nuapada assembly constituency was necessitated following the untimely death of sitting MLA Rajenda Dholakia, who died on September 8 while undergoing treatment for kidney-related ailments at a private hospital in Chennai. Dholakia, who was 69 year-old during his death, was a four-time MLA from the Nuapada assembly constituency of Odisha and was a minister in the Naveen Patnaik cabinet between June 2022 and June 2024.
