Ex-Cong Leader Krushna Sagaria Joins BSP

Bhubaneswar: Former Congress leader and Koraput MLA Krushna Chandra Sagaria formally joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Sunday.

Sagaria joined the BSP in presence of the party’s Odisha prabhari (in-charge) Dharamveer Singh at a function held near the Lower PMG Square in the city here.

Sagaria had resigned as the Member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly on November 6 last year.

He had made up his mind to resign for having failed to provide justice to the Kunduli minor gang rape victim despite being the people’s representative of Koraput. The gang rape of the 15-year-old minor girl in Kunduli that took place on October 10, 2017, had triggered a statewide outrage. The hapless Dalit girl, deprived of justice, later committed suicide at her house at Musaguda village on January 22 this year.

The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) had expelled Sagaria from the primary membership of the party on disciplinary grounds following the recommendation of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) for his adverse remarks on the leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra. He had also severely criticized OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik.