Odisha Maoist leader`s wife to contest polls

Bhubaneswar: Subhashree Das, wife of Odisha`s most wanted Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda, on Wednesday joined Ama Odisha, a regional political party, here.

Das said the ideology of the Ama Odisha motivated her and she expects to contest next month`s assembly election from Ranpur constituency. She joined the party along with about 150 supporters in the presence of party chief Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, a senior leader told IANS. Das was in jail for two years for her alleged links with the rebels. A court acquitted her of the charges April 2012. Since then, she has been busy in social and political activities in Ranpur that her father-in-law Ramesh Panda represented thrice in the assembly on a Communist Party of India-Marxist ticket. The elections for 21 Lok Sabha seats and the 147-member assembly would be held simultaneously in Odisha April 10 and 17.