Congress stalwart Hemananda Biswal's daughter Sunita gets BJD ticket from Sundergarh

Sunita Biswal, daughter of former chief minister and Congress veteran Hemananda Biswal who joined the Biju Janata Dal earlier this month, will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Sundargarh seat.

Sunita Biswal’s name featured in the first list of candidates released by the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD. The list of nine candidates retained only one of its eight sitting MPs.

Interestingly, this is the same Lok Sabha constituency from which her father had contested on Congress ticket and won in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Hemananda was defeated by BJP’s Jual Oram who gathered a total of 33.69 per cent vote share.

Sunita joined the BJD barely two days after the Congress announced that it will strictly follow 'one family, one ticket' policy for the upcoming polls.

Sunita said she joined the regional party after consulting her in-laws. "Since my father is in the Congress, I was not open to quitting the party,” she said.

Sunita said she has joined the BJD without any condition and will accept whatever decision the party chief takes regarding tickets to contest polls. Reacting to her daughter's decision, Hemananda Biswal said: "My daughter is quite grown up to take decision on her own. I have nothing to do with this. I continue to remain in the Congress."