Bhubaneswar: Former Lok Sabha MP from Kalahandi in Odisha, Arka Keshari Deo, returned to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after 10 years on Wednesday.
Arka, who was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014 from Kalahandi constituency as a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate, joined the saffron party along with his wife Malvika Devi in the presence of BJP state president Manmohan Samal, Kalahandi MP Basanta Panda and a host of senior leaders at the ‘Misrana Parba’ held in Bhubaneswar.
Arka had joined BJD in 2013 after death of his father Bikram Keshari Deo, a former BJP MP. He, however, resigned from the regional in 2019, expressing displeasure over allotment of parliamentary seat tickets. He was then replaced by Kalahandi MLA Pushpendra Singh Deo to contest the Kalahandi parliamentary seat, which the latter lost to BJP nominee Basanta Panda.
