In a significant development in the Nayagarh district politics, prominent Congress leader Hemendra Singh was ushered into the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) by ruling party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday.
Patnaik announced Singh’s entry into the BJD in the latter’s presence at the BJD head office here.Singh, who was the president of the Nayagarh District Congress Committee (DCC), had resigned from the party recently in protest against his humiliation at the hands of the Special Operation Group personnel during AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s last visit here.
Nayagarh’s BJD politics is so far dominated by two-time MlA Arun Sahu, who is now the Minister for Energy and Information and Public Relations.
Arun Sahu, Puri BJD MP Pinaki Mishra and Rajya Sabha member Rabi Mohapatra were present when Singh joined the BJD. Denied Congress ticket, Singh had fought the 2009 Assembly elections from the Nayagarh seat as an Independent unsuccessfully but had polled a respectable 39,700 votes.