Sitting BJD MLA Quits Party Ahead Of Elections In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: In a major jolt to the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ahead of the elections, sitting MLA from Jayadav in Khurda district, Arabinda Dhali, resigned from the primary membership of the regional party.

Sources said that he sent his resignation letter to BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnail through an e-mail on Friday night and is set to return to the BJP. Though he has specified no reason for quitting the ruling party, he may spill the beans after joining the saffron party on Sunday.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, the legislator said that about 1000 people of his constituency will join the BJP along with him. “I have acted on my conscience. I am returning to my home party,” he said while refusing to comment on whether he will contest the 2024 elections.

A sixth-time MLA, Dhali represented the Malkangiri from 1992 to 2000 and the Jayadev constituency from 2009 to 2014. He was the transport and corporation minister in the Naveen Patnaik government with BJD-BJP had an alliance.

He quit the saffron party and joined Bharatiya Janshakti Party on April 30, 2006, along with Rama Chandra Panda, former Deputy Speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly. On March 24, 2008, he shifted allegiance to Samajwadi Party and later joined the BJD. While the regional party fielded him from Jayadev assembly constituency in 2009, Sashi Bhusan Behera contested the 2014 elections on BJD ticket from the seat. Dhali was again fielded from the seat in 2019, which he won by defeating Naba Kishor Mallick, an Independent, with a margin of 18700 votes.