Bhubaneswar: Former Gunupur MLA Trinath Gomango joined the BJP in presence of Odisha state president Manmohan Samal and Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi, who was recently inducted into the saffron fold, here on Friday.
Samal said the former MLA would strengthen the saffron party in Rayagada district.
Trinath had won the Gunupur Assembly seat in 2014 after joining the BJD in 2009. He, however, resigned from the regional party in March 2019, alleging the party has let him down by organising a rally at Gunupur in Rayagada district in his absence and projecting Raghunath Gomango as a probable candidate from the seat.
He contested the 2019 elections as an independent and finished third after Raghunath, who won the seat as a BJD nominee by a huge margin, and Purusottam Gomango of Congress.
Three sitting MLAs – Pradeep Panigrahi, Prashant Jagdev and Arabinda Dhali- joined the BJP recently. Several former BJD legislators have also switched allegiance to the saffron party in the last few weeks.
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