Biju Parivar Reunion: Former Odisha Minister Bijoy Mohapatra’s Son Arabinda Joins BJD

Bhubaneswar: Former minister and senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra’s son Arabinda Mohapatra joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday.

He was inducted into the regional outfit in presence of BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. BJD’s organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das, party in-charge of Kendrapada  Pratap Jena, and senior leaders Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Pratap Keshari Deb, Pranab Balabantaray and Ansuman Mohanty, the former Rajnagar MLA who recently quit Congress and joined the BJD, were present.

Party leaders, MLAs and observers of Kendrapada district also attended the joining ceremony at Naveen Niwas here.

“Work hard for the party in Kendrapada district. You have my blessings and please also thank your father,” Naveen said while welcoming Arabinda to the party.

Later speaking to the media at Sankha Bhawan, the party headquarters of BJD, Arabinda said he had been working in Patkura Assembly constituency for past two years and found BJD as an appropriate platform to double and quadruple its development. “After holding discussions with the people of Patkura and with blessing from my father, I joined BJD,” he said.

There have been a buzz about Bijoy and his son’s entry into BJD and it gained momentum after a public meeting at Talakusama village last month which saw a substantial turnout of Mohapatra senior’s supporters. Several attendees reportedly suggested that they should consider joining the ruling BJD, citing the party’s popularity and development initiatives under the leadership of Naveen.

Arabinda’s political entry assumes significance with BJP and BJD inching towards an alliance ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, 15 years after their bitter break-up. Both sides have “more or less” reached a seat-sharing agreement for the polls and a formal announcement is likely on March 8, which mark exactly 15 years from the day Naveen severed ties with the BJP ahead of the 2009 polls, sources said.

Bijoy, who was a powerful minister in the Biju Patnaik government in the early 1990s, is a founding member of BJD. He, however, was ousted from the Naveen Patnaik-led party in 2000 after the party withdrew his candidature for Patkura assembly constituency at the last moment leaving him no time to file his papers even as an Independent candidate. He enjoyed ground-swelling support in Patkura and Mahakalapada areas during his tenure as a minister. He subsequently floated a regional outfit, Orissa Gana Parishad, in 2001 and later merged it with Sharad Pawar’s NCP. He joined BJP after NCP entered into a pact with the BJD for the 2009 polls.

The three-time MLA, however, lost the Assembly elections in 2009 and 2014, contesting from Patkura and Mahakalapada seats respectively with BJD making the contests a prestige issue for Naveen Patnaik.

Also Read: What The Future Holds For Bijoy Mohapatra?

While Arabinda has been active in Patkura constituency for almost two years, he has stayed away from BJP politics, the sources added.