Bhubaneswar: With elections in Odisha barely weeks away, former Kuchinda MLA Brundaban Majhi returned to Biju Janata Dal (BJD) fold on Sunday.
He was inducted into the Conch party at Sankha Bhawan here in the presence of organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das and Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra.
A prominent tribal leader, Majhi had won from Kuchinda on Janata Dal ticket in 1990. He, however, contested the 2004 Assembly elections from Laikera Assembly constituency as a BJP candidate and defeated his rival Congress candidate and former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal by a slender margin of only 1,344 votes. He again shifted allegiance to BJD on March 13, 2009, and was offered the ticket to contest the Kuchinda assembly seat but finished third behind Congress and BJP nominees.
Majhi resigned from BJD ahead of 2019 elections, citing irregularities in the allotment of party tickets.
Earlier in the day, former senior Congress leader Chiranjib Biswal and sitting Nilagiri MLA Sukanata Nayak had joined the BJD.
