Senior JMM leaders, including former MlA Nihar Soren, Krushnananda Mohanty, Shiv Marandi and Prashant Pattnayak, joined the BJD at the Naveen Nivas here in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday.
Soren was elected to the State Assembly from the Biramitrapur constituency in Sundergarh district in 2004 but was defeated by George Tirkey (Independent) from the constituency in 2009.