Bhubaneswar: Barely a week after being expelled from the BJP, Himanshu Sekhar Sahu today returned to the party fold again after winning the election from Dharmasala Assembly segment as an Independent candidate.
On re-joining the party, Sahu said that he had earlier announced to return to the party fold after winning the poll.
“I was contesting the election for the rights of dalit, downtrodden people of 54 panchayats of Dharmasala. The party had promised to allot ticket to Smruti Rekha Pahi and kept its promise. But, the people of Dharmasala wanted me to contest the election. As two candidates can’t fight the election from a single party, I filed the nomination independently and announced to come back after winning the election. So, I returned to the party again,” Sahoo told reporters.
The newly elected MLA also met Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Dhamanagar MLA Suraj Suryavansi on Wednesday morning and returned to the party fold today.
Sahu was an aspirant to contest the Assembly election on BJP ticket. After being denied a ticket, he finally descended on the poll battle independently.
Sahu emerged victorious by cornering BJD heavyweight Pranab Balbantray in a margin of over 4,000.
