Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member of Parliament Baijyant Jay Panda joined the BJP on Monday, giving the saffron party an articulate leader in Odisha, where Assembly polls will be held together with the Lok Sabha elections. Panda met BJP chief Amit Shah and joined the party at its headquarters in the national Capital.
Panda was suspended by the BJD for alleged anti-party activities early last year prompting him to resign from the party and his Lok Sabha seat Kendrapara from where he was elected twice on the BJD ticket. The BJP hopes that senior leader’s presence could expand its influence along the coastal belt in the State.
Odisha is a priority State for the BJP, where it is seeking to give a tough fight to the BJD which is facing anti-incumbency under the two-decade rule of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The BJP has already made inroads during the panchayat and local level elections and gained second position in the State by relegating the Congress to the third slot.
Panda, who owns an influential media empire in Odisha, had been close to Naveen Patnaik and often articulated BJD’s viewpoint at the national level before he fell out with him. The BJD had accused him of money laundering and demanded a probe.
Odisha has 21 parliamentary constituencies and the BJD had won 20 of them in 2014. The BJP had won only one seat — Sundargarh, represented by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram.
The BJP’s attempt to expand its base in the State notwithstanding, the BJD has been backing the BJP on several issues at the national level and had voted against TDP sponsored no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the Modi Government.