BJP fields Dilip Ray from Rourkela after HC suspends conviction in coal scam

Dilip Ray, 71, was handed out a three-year jail term in October 2020 for his role in the coal block allocation scam

Updated on: Apr 16, 2024, 15:06:35 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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BHUBANESWAR: : Former union minister Dilip Ray, sentenced to three years in jail in a corruption case in 2020, was named as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Odisha’s Rourkela assembly segment on Tuesday, a week after the Delhi high court stayed his conviction in the case.

Dilip Ray was convicted in the coal scam case relating to a 1999 allotment and sentenced to three years in jail in October 2020 (X/@DilipRayOdisha)

In a post on X, Ray thanked the top BJP leadership for nominating him as the candidate from Rourkela. “This time, under the visionary leadership of our Prime Minister Modiji, BJP will not only return to power in the Centre with a thumping majority, but in Odisha too, our party shall form the Government and our people will benefit from the Double Engine Government,” he said

Ray, 71, was handed out a three-year jail term in October 2020 for his role in irregularities in the allocation of an abandoned coal mining area in Jharkhand’s Giridih district to a private, firm, Castron Technologies Limited, in 1999. Ray was a minister of state (MoS) for coal in the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

On April 8, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of the Delhi high court suspended Ray’s conviction on April 8 on his petition, ruling that if his request is not accepted, “he will lose the chance to contest an election and an irreversible consequence and irreversible damage to his political career and desire to serve his constituency will be caused to him”.

He has thrice won the Rourkela assembly seat in 1985, 1990 and 2014. Ray, who also founded the hotel chain Mayfair Hotels and Resorts, was a Rajya Sabha member for two terms from 1996 and 2008.

Ray distanced himself from the BJP in 2018, complaining that he was being treated as a piece of furniture in the party.

Ray’s candidature from the Rourkela assembly segment is expected to help Lok Sabha candidate Jual Oram’s fight in the Lok Sabha election for Sundargarh constituency where he is pitted against Hockey India president and former captain of the Indian men’s hockey team, Dilip Tirkey.

Among the other 20 names announced by the BJP for Odisha assembly elections on Tuesday were Surama Padhy for the Ranpur seat and Chaitanya Nandibali for the Pottangi seat, replacing the two party leaders, Tapas Martha and Chaitanya Hantal, respectively, whose names were announced earlier,

Also on the list are three former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders who recently switched sides; Amarendra Das in Jagatsinghpur, Dambaru Sisa in Chitrakonda and Bhadav Hansda in Saraskana.

The BJP has so far announced candidates on 131 of Odisha’s 147 assembly seats.

Odisha votes in four phases starting May 13.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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