Vice Presidents Of Odisha Congress Join BJP After Quitting Party Ahead Of Elections

Bhubaneswar: Former vice presidents of Odisha Congress, Rajat Choudhury and Biswabhusan Das, joined BJP along with their supporters at its party headquarters in Bhubaneswar on Friday.

While Rajat had quit the grand old party on March 1, Biswabhusan tendered his resignation from the post and its primary membership earlier in the day. Rajat had earlier served as Pradesh Youth Congress president and were also the general secretary of the state unit of the party. He also played a crucial role at organisation level.

Biswabhusan had unsuccessfully contested the 2009 and 2019 elections from Kakatpur Assembly constituency on Congress ticket.

Congress leader and 2014 & 2019 MLA candidate from Hindol, Trinath Behera, has also quit the party and is likely to join BJP.

The exodus of prominent leaders from Congress with elections barely weeks away has come as a blow to its concerted efforts to strengthen its cadre and emerge as an alternative in the state post 2024 elections.

Meanwhile, speculation is rife that senior leader and Congress’ Kantabanji candidate Santosh Singh Saluja might also quit the party and join the BJD.

On Thursday, Arindam Sarkhel, also known as Bapi Sarkhel, resigned from all posts, including primary membership of the grand old party. This came days after his wife Monideepa Sarkhel joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) along with her supporters, including vice-chairperson of Paradip municipality Chhabilata Rout.

Chiranjib Biswal, a former MLA and son of Congress stalwart Basant Kumar Biswal, snapped ties with the grand old party, on March 30 and joined the BJD along with former state general secretary Ajay Ketan Samal and ex-secretary Jogendra Bahubalendra.

On March 19, Khariar MLA Adhiraj Mohan Panigrahi resigned from the Congress and joined the BJD the day after. Three-time former Congress MLA and ex-minister Surendra Singh Bhoi joined BJD on March 29, a day after quitting the party. He got a ticket on April 3 to contest as BJD candidate from Balangiri Lok Sabha seat.

The party had received a major setback in February when former MLA Anshuman Mohanty (Rajnagar) quit the Congress on February 14 and joined BJD two days later. He has nominated as BJD MP candidate for Kendrapada.