Bhubaneswar: In a major blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party’s MLA candidate Tusharkanti Behera fielded from Kakatpur for upcoming polls quit the saffron party and joined the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the presence of party chief Naveen Patnaik, here.
The leader with the party ticket for Kakatpur assembly constituency has deserted the party and joined forces with the conch party.
He joined the BJD at Naveen Niwas in presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The BJD supremo said, “I welcome him to the party. His joining will further strengthen the BJD.”
Emphasizing that every election was important, Naveen sounded confident that the party will do very well.
While Kakatpur is going to polls in the fourth phase April 29, Behera had earlier contested Assembly polls in 2014 with a BJP ticket and had lost to BJD’s Surendra Sethi. It is also notable to mention here that BJP candidate Bhagrathi Sethi of Anandapur had also jumped ship and joined BJD last week.
Worth mentioning, Bhagirathi Sethi of BJP had resigned from the party after he was allotted party ticket for Anandapur constituency. He later joined the ruling party and was given BJD candidature from the same assembly seat.
Furthermore, Congress leaders such as Sitaram Panigrahy and Sudhir Palai, among others also pledged their alliance to BJD, today.
PNN