Utkal Bharat
Utkal Bharat is a political party of Odisha, India. M.A. Kharbela Swain is its founder and president. Utkal Bharat was formed on 2 February 2010. After its formation, the party has faced Athagarh bypoll election with the candidate named "Bratati Chatterjee", then panchayat, municipality, and general election as well.[1]
Together with the Aama Odisha Party, Utkal Bharat sought an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the 2014 Indian general election. However, no deal was reached with the BJP. Afterward, Utkal Bharat and Aama Odisha Party formed an alliance of their own, deciding to contest elections jointly on the earthen pot symbol (allotted to the Aama Odisha Party by the Election Commission of India).[1] Including the party, BJP declared mahamenta (a grand alliance) in Odisha, Arun Jaitley and Chandan Mitra came to Odisha to declare the alliance and talk held between Mahamegha Bahan Aira Kharbela Swain, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Arun Jaitley, Chandan Mitra, Braja Tripathy and other BJP leaders but after arriving at Delhi they broke the alliance. The party Utkal Bharat says there held an agreement between BJD and BJP government.
After the general election, the party gave 67 candidates in Jilla Parishad elections but did not win any seats. Now the party has organised "Odisha Bhagya Pariwartan Yatra" to reach near the people of Odisha. The party leader returned to BJP in 2019 election.
References
- Business Standard. Ama Odisha, Utkal Bharat form alliance