BJD leader and Pachayati Raj and Drinking Water Department Minister Pradeep Maharathy on Sunday claimed that many BJP and Congress leaders are going to join the BJD soon.
Maharathy said many top leaders of both the parties are in contact with the BJD and would switch over to ruling party.
“Naveen Patnaik is our Chief Ministerial candidate. Who are the BJP and the Congress Chief Ministerial candidatesIJ One BJP leader said (the State’s political) Nabakalebar would be in Puri, another leader said Nabakalebar would be from another place.”
In reaction, BJP legislature Party leader KV Singh Deo said it seems Maharathy is interested in joining the BJP. The BJP’s Chief Ministerial name is not announced before the elections but after it, he pointed out.
Congress Chief Whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati questioned that if the BJD has many leaders then why it announced Subal Sahu’s wife as the candidate for the Bijepur by-poll.
There are many potential Chief Ministerial candidates in the Congress, be it Niranjan Patnaik or Narasingha Mishra. The BJP and the BJD are holding Mishran Parvas and other Parvas. But when the Congress gets into gear, both the BJD and the BJP would vanish, remarked Bahinpati.