Former BJP Bargarh district president Narayan Sahu along with his supporters formally joined the BJD at a meeting here on Sunday ahead of the Bijepur Assembly by-election.
The BJD expects that with Sahu’s joining would strengthen the party in the district and brighten its chances of winning the constituency, which till now has remained a Congress citadel.
Sahu joined the BJD in the presence of Ministers Sushant Singh, Niranjan Pujari and Snehangini Chhuria and BJD vice-president Prasanna Acharya.
Earlier on November 21 when Sahu had come to attend a meeting of the BJP, he met BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar and announced his desire of joining the party. BJP leaders had no knowledge about it and came to know the development from media reports.
Notably, after the joining of a former Bijepur MlA and BJD leader, Ashok Panigrahi, in the BJP, Sahu had offered his resignation from the party on October 3. However, senior BJP leaders convinced him to withdraw his resignation.
Similarly, Panigrahi had quit the BJD after the ruling party named deceased MlA Subal Sahu’s widow Rita Sahu as its candidate for the Bijepur by-poll.
Interestingly BJD’s Bijepur block president Radheshyam Mohapatra, who resigned from his post on Saturday alleging neglect but stated that he would work for the party, was absent at the function of Narayan Sahu’s joining the BJD.