Odisha polls: Sitting MLA Jacob Pradhan quits Congress

Kandhamal: Current MLA of G.Udaipur constituency Jacob Pradhan resigned from the grand old party today after being denied party ticket from the same constituency for the forthcoming assembly elections.

In a letter addressed to AICC president Rahul Gandhi, Jacon officially quit the party and alleged that OPPC president Niranjan Patnaik and Pradeep Majhi conspired against him and deprived him of a party ticket to contest in the upcoming polls.

“I am a Christian tribal MLA who kept the party banner high during the debacle of Congress party in Odisha. I was the only candidate who won a seat during 2014 elections in Kandhamal parliamentary constituency. I am humiliated severely and mentally tortured,” Pradhan write in the letter.

Pradhan has filed his nomination from the same constituency as an independent candidate after Congress dropped him.

Notably, Shyamghan Pradhan has been appointed as Congress candidate to contest from G.Udaygiri constituency against BJD’s Saluga Pradhan and BJP’s Archana Pradhan.