Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla, actress-turned TRS MP M Vijayashanti, veteran Odia actor Bijay Mohanty among others joined the Congress on Thursday.
While Shukla joined the Congress after being sidelined by the BJP, Vijayshanti joined the party at a time when the possibility of TRS merging with Congress has hit a roadblock. Vijayashanthi, who is not on the best of terms with TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, met party chief Sonia Gandhi before the decision of her joining the party was announced.
The TRS leaders have maintained that its leaders are not too keen on merger and that the party’s future course of action would be finalised through consultations within the party on Saturday. Shukla who served the party as MP and MlA in her career spanning 32 years in BJP, slammed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying his promise of serving the country is nothing but “plain dishonesty”.
Veteran Odia film actor Bijay Mohanty too joined the Congress and is likely to contest the ensuing general elections from Bhubaneshwar. Mohanty joined the party days after another veteran actress Aparajita Mohanty joined the Congress. She is likely to contest from Cuttack lok Sabha seat, party sources said. Meanwhile, Odia film actors Sritam Das and Pinky Pradhan joined the BJP on Wednesday, another film actor Anubhav Mohanty and noted comedian Papu had joined the ruling BJD recently.