27 BJD Legislators In Contact With BJP To Cross Over, Says Odisha MLA Saroj Padhi

Bhubaneswar: A day after two BJD leaders including a block chairperson joined BJP, Saroj Kumar Padhi, an MLA of the ruling party in Odisha, on Tuesday claimed that 27 BJD legislators were in contact with his party to jump the wagon.

Speaking to media persons, Padhi said those BJD leaders were holding talks with senior BJP leaders of the state to cross over to the daffron party. “Our party will not only welcome the BJD legislators but also appoint them in big posts. The party responsibilities to be assigned to them will be decided later,” he said.

Stating that the BJD does not have a future, the MLA from Aska in Ganjam district said, “The BJD MLAs are a worried lot due to bleak future faced by the party. They have realised that their party has turned into a big zero.”

On BJD MP Munna Khan’s statement that the BJD would come back to power in less than five years as most of the BJP leaders are dissatisfied with the government’s performance, Padhi said the BJP is a national party. The MP was probable not aware that if 14 BJP MLAs defect to BJD, they would come under anti-defection law. But the law would not be applicable if 27 MLAs defect from BJD to BJP, he added.

It may be noted that former Rajya Sabha MPs of BJD Mamata Mahanta and Sujeet Kumar had quit BJD to join the saffron party after the formation of new government in Odisha.

Padhi claimed that besides MPs and MLAs, several BJD leaders at grassroots level from village to district levels were waiting for the opportune time to switch over to BJP.