Bhubaneswar, April 12: Former Laxmipur MLA Kailash Kulesika made a significant political move by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party after being overlooked for a ticket by the ruling Biju Janata Dal on Friday. His decision to switch allegiance was marked by his enrollment in the saffron party in the presence of BJP state president Manmohan Samal and actor-turned-politician Arindam Roy, among others.

Expressing his disappointment over the denial of the ticket, Kulesika accused the ruling BJD of promising him a Special Development Council (SDC) position and Rs 1 crore post-election, only to renege on their commitment.

The BJD's decision to re-nominate sitting MLA Prabhu Jani for the Laxmipur assembly constituency in the upcoming elections came as a setback to Kulesika, who had pinned his hopes on securing a ticket from the ruling party after joining it in 2021.

It's worth noting that Kulesika narrowly lost the 2019 assembly election on a Congress ticket to Jani by a margin of just 229 votes.

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