Former captain of the Indian Men’s Hockey Team Prabodh Tirkey on Monday officially joined the Congress at a programme at Congress Bhawan here.
PCC president Sarat Pattanayak, Congress State in-charge A Chellakumar, Jatni MLA Suresh Routray, Odisha Congress Campaign Committee chairman Bijay Patnaik, former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik and other senior members in the party were present at the event.
Earlier, Tirkey had revealed his plan to join the Congress and contest the next Assembly election from the Talsara seat in Sundargarh district, a cradle of hockey that has produced many players at national and international levels. Recently, he had joined a protest at Talsara that indicated his future plan to join politics.
Worth mentioning that Talsara was a Congress stronghold earlier. In the 2019 Assembly elections, the seat was won by BJP’s Bhabani Shankar Bhoi.