Two days after he resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi on Saturday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the elections.
He joined the saffron party in the presence of BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram and BJP Odisha in-charge Arun Singh during a programme in New Delhi.
Dharmendra Pradhan said, “Majhi joined the BJP for the development of tribals in Nabarangpur and Koraput districts. He came to the party being inspired by the ideals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and developmental works of the Union Government. His joining will strengthen the BJP further in the State.”
Pradhan said rail lines have been laid in Nabarangpur and Malkangiri districts due to efforts of Majhi.
Balabhadra Majhi is most likely to be the BJD candidate for the Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat in the coming elections. He had defeated his nearest Congress rival Pradeep Majhi in this constituency in the 2014 polls.
Notably, Balabhadra Majhi had resigned from the BJD alleging that he was “ignored” by the party.
As was expected, Salepur MLA Prakash Behera resigned from the Congress’ primary membership on Saturday citing “humiliation” by the party time and again.
He sent his resignation to All India Congress Committee president Rahul Gandhi.
Speculations are on rife that Behera is likely to join the BJP soon.
Behera said, “After being removed as Cuttack District Congress Committee (DCC) president, I have been humiliated by the party leadership time and again. In spite of my appeal to the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, my grievance was not duly considered by the OPCC.”
“I had been working for the Congress since last 20 years,” he added.