Former Bissam Cuttack MlA Sarangadhar Kadraka on Tuesday resigned from the BJD and joined the BJP.
Kadraka was elected to the Odisha Assembly twice from the Bissam Cuttack (ST) constituency in Rayagada district. While he was elected on a Janata Dal ticket in 1990, he got re-elected in 2000 on a BJD ticket.
Kadraka, a Dongaria Kondh, was opposed to the mining of bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills by the Vedanta describing the hills as a ‘Kamadhenu’ which protects and nurtures the local people.