BJP Odisha vice president Lekhasri Samantasinghar resigns from party, joins BJD
Bhubaneswar (PTI): In a jolt to the opposition BJP, the party's Odisha unit vice-president Lekhasri Samantasinghar on Sunday resigned from the saffron party and joined the Biju Janata Dal ahead of the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections.
Lekhasri is the second BJP Odisha vice-president after Bhrugu Baxipatra to resign from the BJP weeks before the polls and join the BJD.
In her resignation letter to Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal, Lekhasri said that she decided to quit the saffron party having "failed" to earn the trust of the leadership.
"I have given my sweat and blood to the Bharatiya Janata Party for the last ten years. However, despite all the sincerity and hard work, I could not earn the trust of the leadership. Hence, I feel there is nothing left for me to do here and my desire to serve the people of Odisha is being hampered," Lekhasri said in the letter.
Lekhasri on Sunday joined the BJD in presence of party MPs Manas Mangaraj and Sasmit Patra.
"It is difficult to change after sweating for a party that did not recognise my hard work. I thank BJD for accepting me. I am inspired by the developmental activities of chief minister Naveen Patnaik. I will do my best for the BJD," she told reporters after joining the regional party at 'Sankha Bhavan', the BJD state headquarters.
Since BJD has yet to announce the name of its candidate from the Balasore Lok Sabha seat, she may try for a ticket to the Balasore Lok Sabha seat.
The BJD in 2019 had fielded seven women candidates for the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. However, this time, the party has nominated only six women candidates so far.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
