Former BJD Leader Dambarudhar Majhi Joins BJP

Bhubaneswar: BJD leader and former Minister Dambarudhar Majhi joined BJP on Monday.

According to sources, Majhi with his supporters joined BJP at a meeting held at Saurasahi Kalyan Mandap in Nabarangpur district.

Party district president Gobinda Jain and former MP Parshuram Majhi welcomed him to the party.

According to Majhi, after being defeated as MP candidate in the 2009 election, he was neglected in the party. So he left the ruling party BJD and joined BJP.

A couple of days earlier, former Congress leader and three-time MLA from Simulia constituency in Balasore district, Padmalochan Panda too, joined the BJP along with his supporters.

According to reports, the former MLA arrived at Pataraj Melana ground in Khaira block with his supporters and announced his decision to join the saffron party in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and state BJP president Basanta Panda.

Padmalochan had announced his resignation from the primary membership of the grand old party on October 7 and sent his resignation to the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president, Niranjan Patnaik.

At a press briefing, he had attributed his decision to quit the Congress due to intra-party feud and lack of coordination among the leaders.

He was the Minister of State for Fisheries and Animal Resources Development and Panchayati Raj departments from February 22, 1999, to March 5, 2000, when the Congress was in power in Odisha.