Former bureaucrats to contest polls from Orissa

Several former bureaucrats are contesting the Lok Sabha and assembly elections from Orissa with one of them floating his own political party.

Several former bureaucrats are contesting the Lok Sabha and assembly elections from Orissa with one of them floating his own political party.

HT Image

A former Andhra Pradesh cadre officer, Jatish Chandra Mohanty, has formed his own political outfit ‘Samurdha Odisha´. He is likely to contest from some coastal district.

Debabrata Kantha, an IAS officer of 1987 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre, was nominated by the Congress to contest from Jajpur assembly seat.

Kantha had last year quit the service to join politics in Orissa. He had to pay Rs 20.60 lakh to the government which had spent the amount for his training programme abroad.

Radhakant Naik has been elected as a Rajya Sabha MP from Congress.

Former bureaucrat Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, who apparently plays a decisive role in BJD, has become a Rajya Sabha MP.

However, Mohapatra has ensured that no other bureaucrats join the regional party, claimed a senior BJD leader.

Former railways officer Kharvel Swain has already been a three-time MP from Balasore and is again trying his luck as a BJP candidate for the fourth time.