Former Baleswar MlA and NCP leader Arun Dey on Saturday joined the BJD in the presence of BJD chief Naveen Patnaik. He is likely to contest from the Baleswar lok Sabha seat as a BJD candidate.
Dey had contested the elections in 2009 as the NCP candidate from the Baleswar lok Sabha constituency under a seat-sharing arrangement that the BJD had with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP but had lost to Srikant Jena of the Congress, who went on to become a Union Minister. With the NCP State unit reduced to a rump following the merger of its legislature party with the BJD, Dey had very little option but to switch camps this time.