Odia Superstar & BJD MP Anubhav Mohanty May Not Get Lok Sabha Ticket?

Speculations are rife whether Odia superstar and Biju Janata Dal MP Anubhav Mohanty will get the 2024 Lok Sabha ticket? Unlikely, say BJD insiders. The Kendrapara seat which he won in the 2019 election may be given to former Rajnagar Congress MLA Anshuman Mohanty who switched over to BJD few days ago. So what went wrong with Anubhav?  The marital discord with his ex-wife Varsha Priyadarshini saw him hitting the headlines instead of political work.  He was spending more time on fighting the divorce case than nursing his constituency.  The court did grant him the divorce finally. But, this discord kept him away from attending party meetings, registering his presence at the government programmes, participating in Durga Puja festival or involved in Panchayat poll campaigns, party insiders say. People close to Anubhav reveal that he has been sidelined in the BJD for quite some time now.  It is learnt that BJP’s Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda busy with UP election responsibility is unlikely to contest from Kendrapara. And BJP is yet to announce its list of candidates for Odisha. So given this situation, BJD seems well prepared to defend its traditional “Kendrapara” fort.