Bhubaneswar: Former Indian hockey captain Prabodh Tirkey, who had resigned from Congress recently joined BJP at a function in Odisha’s Sonepur on Thursday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, state president of BJP Manmohan Samal and several senior leaders of the party welcomed Tirkey to the party.
Tirkey was nominated by Congress as its candidate for Talasara Assembly constituency in Sundargarh district. But the party replaced him in its second list of 75 candidates and nominated Debendra Bhitaria. Following this, Tirkey resigned from the Congress.
Tirkey, who had joined Congress in September 2023, had expressed shock over the party’s decision to drop him. He said he had no idea why the Congress dropped him while he had already started campaigning.
He had also said he would decide his next step after consulting his followers and well-wishers in the constituency.
