BHUBANESWAR: Manmath Routray, son of six time Congress MLA from Jatni Suresh Kumar Routray, is set to take on the mantle from his father in the next election. But in a shocker for the grand old party, Manmath on Wednesday made it clear that he would not contest from Congress and will announce his decision in October.
Sources though said, he will contest on a BJD ticket. He will formally join BJD in October after the monsoon session of the Assembly ends.A senior BJD leader said Manmath’s joining will boost the ruling party’s chances in both the Assembly and Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat. BJP has a strong presence in Jatni Assembly segment while the BJD does not have a MLA face in the constituency now.
The senior Routray, a very popular Congress leader with a strong base in Jatni and significant presence in Bhubaneswar Parliamentary seat, had already announced that he will not contest the next election and leave the seat for his younger son Manmath. He had said that Manmath will contest on a Congress ticket. However, Manmath seems to have made up his mind.
Manmath said that he has made up his mind on not contesting from Congress after consultation with people of the constituency. Recently, though he had been active in the party. He had visited in Congress Bhawan for some work and also participated in the rally organised by the party demanding proper drainage system and infrastructure development in Bhubaneswar.“In a democracy, people can take a call on which political they will join taking into account their performance and policies,” he said.