Odisha: BJP MLA Sukanta Nayak joins BJD

Bhubaneswar, March 31 (PTI) BJP MLA Sukanta Nayak of Nilagiri in Odisha’s Balasore district joined the ruling BJD on Sunday. A number of state Congress leaders, including its former working president Chiranjib Biswal, also joined the BJD. Nayak, who quit the BJP on Friday, joined the BJD along with his supporters at its headquarters Sankha Bhawan. He was welcomed to the party by senior BJD leader Pratap Keshari Deo and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra. Nayak was first elected to the assembly in 2014 on a BJD ticket. However, he resigned from the BJD ahead of the 2019 polls, joined the BJP and was re-elected to the assembly from the same seat.

“I had left the party due to some emotion. Today, I have come back because I found that there was a lack of compatibility in the BJP,” he said.

Apart from Biswal, the other Congress leaders who joined the BJD are former state general secretary Ajay Ketan Samal and ex-secretary Jogendra Bahubalendra.

Chiranjib Biswal is the son of veteran Congress leader Basant Kumar Biswal, and he had recently resigned from the party. “I will work as a small-time worker of the BJD, and will follow whatever assignment or instruction is given to me by the party’s high command,” he said. Former Kuchinda MLA Brundaban Majhi, who had quit the BJD ahead of the 2019 elections, also returned to the party. He was in the BJP. Meanwhile, former BJD MLA from Korei Akash Das Nayak joined the BJP. He was welcomed to the party by its state president Manmohan Samal. He said he was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for ‘Vikashit Bharat’ or developed India. A renowned Odia actor, Nayak was elected to the state assembly from the Korei seat in Jajpur district in 2014. Though BJD denied him a ticket in 2019, he continued in the party.