Bhubaneswar: Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi, who was expelled from Biju Janata Dal (BJD) four years ago, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday ahead of the twin elections in Odisha.
Panigrahi joined the saffron party in the presence of BJP’s Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and other senior leaders at a special function held at the state party headquarters in Bhubaneswar.
A former Minister, Panigrahi had earlier met Manmohan Samal on February 15 sparking speculations that he might join the saffron party.
“We welcomed Pradeep Panigrahi into our party. He was a former minister and been a victim of various political reasons. BJP will emerge stronger in Ganjam and other parts of the state with his entry into the party,” Samal said.
Soon after joining BJP, Panigrahi said a lot of development has been taking place in the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and now it is time for a political change in Odisha.
The BJD had expelled Panigrahi from the party on November 29, 2020 over “anti-people activities”.
The action against him was taken after his alleged association with tainted IFS Officer Abhay Kant Pathak’s son Akash Kumar Pathak and involvement in a job fraud came to fore.
Stressing the need for building a strong Bharat as well as strong Odisha, Panigrahi said it is time to rise above regionalism to nationalism and BJP is working in this direction.
“PM Modi’s vision of a strong economy, peace indicator and works done by him have infused faith among people and time is ripe for a change in Odisha to throw corrupt government in the state here to save democracy,” he said.
Stating that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had started his career with the support of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Panigrahi said the BJD president later snapped ties with the BJP.
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