After breaking his 30-year-long association with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), senior leader Subash Chauhan, who had resigned the party on Tuesday, joined the
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) here on Wednesday.
Chauhan joined the State’s ruling party at the Naveen Nivas in the presence of party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. However, he denied contesting in the upcoming polls.
Patnaik said, “Chauhan’s joining will strengthen the BJD’s position in the State, especially in western Odisha.” He also said that Chouhan would be given a “good position” in the party.
Chauhan told reporters, “Inspired by the ideology of Naveen Patnaik, i joined the BJD. I have worked for the service of people for more than 30 years and will continue
to work for them in coming days.”
Interestingly, Chauhan termed CM Naveen as “Yudhishthir”, a mythological character from the epic Mahabharata, and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan as “Duryodhan”. He, however, clarified that his association with the RSS would continue as it is.
Chauhan had on Tuesday expressed his discontentment over the BJP’s denial of ticket to him to contest from the Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency even though he had bagged the highest number of votes among all the contesting BJP candidates in the State during the 2014 elections.