Bhubaneswar: A day after announcing his resignation from BJD, Jayadev MLA Arabinda Dhali joined the BJP at the party headquarters in Odisha capital on Sunday.
The legislator was inducted into the saffron party in presence of BJP state election in-charge Vijaypal Singh Tomar, state unit president Manmohan Samal, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi and other senior leaders.
The joining event also saw senior tribal leader and former MLA from Malkangiri Mukunda Sodi embracing the saffron colour ahead of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in April. He had resigned from BJD earlier in the day, citing negligence and disrespect within the party ranks.
“BJP will form a stable government in Odisha. Senior leaders are feeling suffocated in BJD. The youth leaders, who are controlling the party affairs, are forgetting that ‘Old is Gold’,” said the Jayadev MLA.
Dhali was elected to the state Assembly for the first time from Malkangiri in a by-election in 1992 on a BJP ticket. He retained the seat for two consecutive terms, but lost the 2004 election to the Congress. He joined the BJD before the 2009 elections and won from Jayadev Assembly constituency, which he retained in 2019.
He was Minister for Cooperation, Textile and Handloom and Commerce and Transport in the Naveen Patnaik government between 2000 and 2004 when BJD-BJD had an alliance.
Earlier in the day, Chilika MLA Prasanta Jagadev, who joined the BJP last month, told the media that a massive transformation is taking place in the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. “There will also be a transformation in Odisha and BJD will transform into BJP,” he said, claiming that many BJD leaders will join the saffron party soon.
Jagadev and another leader expelled from BJD, Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi, had joined the BJP on February 29 and February 21, respectively. They were followed by senior BJD leader and former state minister Debasis Nayak.
Former Dhamnagar MLA Rajendra Kumar Das, who was also expelled from BJD in 2022, is also slated to join BJP on March 4, according to party sources.
