Former BJP Minister & Son Of Sitting Congress MLA May Join BJD Today

Bhubaneswar: Former minister and Junagarh MLA from BJP, Himanshu Shekhar Meher, is likely to join the ruling BJD in Odisha on Wednesday.

Meher was elected to the state Assembly from Junagarh twice in 2000 and 2004 and served as the Minister of Textiles & Handlooms in the first Naveen Patnaik ministry in 2022 when BJD and BJP were in an alliance.

Sources further said that Manmath Routray, younger son of Jatni MLA Suresh Routray, is also likely to be inducted into BJD during a joining ceremony at Sankha Bhawan. He may also get a party ticket to contest from either Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat or Jatni Assembly constituency, which his father, a six-time Congress MLA, has been representing.

In January, Manmath had returned to Odisha after his resignation as pilot with Air India was accepted and he was accorded a grand welcome by his father and supporters. A month later, Suresh Routray announced his retirement from electoral politics  and asserted that his son, Manmath, would contest the next polls from Jatni assembly constituency on Congress ticket.

Manmath, however, had earlier said he would contest the 2024 polls but not as a Congress candidate.

Also Read: Odisha MLA Suresh Routray’s Son Manmath To Contest From Jatni But Not On Congress Ticket