Bhubaneswar: Former Tirtol MLA Bijay Shankar Das, son of late BJD leader and former minister Bishnu Das, got married to his girlfriend Pratyusha Nanda in a private ceremony held at a hotel near Kalpana Square in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

The wedding was conducted in the presence of family members, relatives and a limited number of guests. A wedding reception was also organised on the same day.

According to sources, only a handful of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders attended the ceremony. Those present included leaders who had been close associates of Bishnu Das, along with a few leaders from the Biridi block and Raghunathpur. However, no prominent political leaders from the Tirtol constituency were seen at the event.

Notably, Bijay Shankar had been at the centre of a controversy over an alleged love affair and breach of a marriage promise in 2023. The issue had triggered a political storm, with opposition parties staging protests and the matter reaching the police.

The controversy involved a woman from the Deuligrameswar area of Jagatsinghpur town, who had accused the then MLA of failing to keep his promise of marriage. Although Bijay Shankar had reportedly applied for marriage registration at the Sub-Registrar's office, the marriage did not take place.

Political observers had also linked the controversy to the BJD's decision not to field Bijay Shankar from the Tirtol Assembly constituency in the 2024 elections.

Bijay Shankar entered electoral politics after the death of his father, Bishnu Das, who had won the Tirtol Assembly seat in the 2019 elections. Following Bishnu Das's death due to COVID-19 in 2020, Bijay Shankar contested and won the subsequent by-election.