Bhubaneswar: Former Union Minister Dilip Ray will contest from Rourkela Assembly constituency on BJP ticket.
Senior BJP leader and Sundergah MP Jual Oram today said that BJP will announce his candidature as his conviction in 1999 coal scam was stayed by Delhi High Court.
Oram who is also contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Sundergarh said that they will make all necessary preparation once his name is announced officially.
“It has been finalised that Dilip Ray will contest from Rourkela Assembly constituency. His name for the ticket will be announced shortly. Once his name is declared, we will prepare for his contest,” said Oram while replying to reporters.
Ray was elected to State Assembly twice from Rourkela in 1990 and 2014.
Ray, 71, in October 2020 was sentenced to three-year jail term in a case pertaining to irregularities in the allocation of a Jharkhand coal block in 1999.
During his long political career, he became Union minister on several occasions as well as a minister in the Odisha government.
In November, 2018, Ray had resigned from the BJP.
