Ex-Congress Leader Pranaya Sahu Joins BJD

Bhubaneswar: A day after resigning from the party, senior Congress leader of Bargarh district Pranaya Kumar Sahu formally joined the Biju Janata Dal on Tuesday.

Accompanied by his supporters and the sitting BJD MLA of Bijepur constituency Rita Sahu, Pranaya arrived at the Naveen Niwas here and formally joined the ruling party in presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The former vice-chairman of Gaisilat block, Sahu had informed about his decision to resign from the primary membership of the party in a letter to Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik on Monday.

Explaining the reasons being his resignation to the media, the senior leader said he had asked the party leadership to introspect the miserable show of the Congress in the by-election to the Bijepur assembly constituency in February last year. Not only was this suggestion of his ignored, but he was also not considered during the reconstitution of the OPCC, he added.