Bhubaneswar: Anubhav Mohanty, the outgoing Biju Janata Dal MP from Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat and a prominent actor in Odia cinema, who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of elections, filed nomination as independent candidate from Khandapada Assembly seat.
Anubhav Mohanty, who won from Kendrapada parliamentary seat, polling highest votes among all the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies, was disappointed by BJP after denial of ticket.
He was mired in controversy arising out of marital issues for almost four years since his win in 2019. The Orissa high court had recently granted divorce to Anubhav and actress Varsha Priyadarshini. The duo had tied the knot in 2014 but soon their relation soured. Anubhav had first filed for divorce in a court in Delhi in 2020. Later, it was transferred to Cuttack.
In 2019, Anubhav had defeated BJP’s Baijayant Panda by 1.52 lakh votes with a vote share of 50.87% as he polled 6,28,839 votes. Panda had joined BJP in 2018 leaving his long association with chief Naveen Patnaik-led BJD. Seemingly, BJD had thrown its weight behind Mohanty to capture Kendrapada then.
Sources said after the marital controversy cropped up, Mohanty was conspicuous by his absence in several BJD public meetings and internal consultation and discussions. He was not seen in any campaign in the bypoll that took place since his divorce issues hogged the headlines, an obvious indication that the party wanted to keep him off the radar.
