BHUBANESWAR: In a huge jolt to the Congress, 10 student Congress leaders, including former president of the State unit of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Chinmoy Sahoo, on Sunday joined the BJD in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Joining of the Chhatra Congress leaders in the BJD is being seen as a move by the ruling party to capture the students’ union of Utkal University in the coming election.
Election to the Utkal University students’ Union has not been held for the last two years.
Two other former presidents of the university, Prakash Kumar Tripathy and Tanmaya Swain, too have joined the BJD. Tripathy is a former general secretary of the State unit of Youth Congress while Swain is a national delegate of NSUI.
Others who left the Chhatra Congress to join the BJD are Pabitra Mohapatra and Mohabir Mohapatra, general secretary and secretary of NSUI respectively, Trilochan Behera, Satish Sharma, vice-president of NSUI, Bismay Stallin, Satyabrata Mohanty and Smruti Ranjan Biswal.
Welcoming the student leaders, the Chief Minister said they will be a great asset for the party.
The student leaders blamed the Congress leadership for quitting the party.