BHUBANESWAR: Chairperson, vice-chairperson and six Congress councillors of Barpali urban local body in Bargarh district on Sunday joined the BJD, strengthening the party in Bijepur Assembly constituency.BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik welcomed the Congress leaders and workers, including chairperson of Barpali Notified Area Council (NAC) Meena Seth and vice-chairperson Pradyumna Tripathy, while inducting them into the ruling party at Naveen Nivas here.
The six councillors who joined the BJD are Achyutananda Panda, Suchhi Behera, Aswini Parida, Gayatri Rout, Basanti Bhoi and Babita Rana. Voicing happiness over the development, Naveen said, “I welcome them into our party. Their joining will further strengthen the BJD.”
Induction of the Congress leaders from Barpali to the BJD came around a fortnight after late Congress MLA Subal Sahu’s widow, Ritarani Sahu, her son Sumit and other family members joined the ruling party on September 23. The Chief Minister has already announced Ritarani as the party’s candidate for the by-poll from the Bijepur Assembly constituency.
By-poll from Bijepur has been necessitated after the death of three-time Congress MLA Subal Sahu. The date for the by-poll is, however, yet to be announced. Seth said it was late Subal Sahu who had brought her into politics and after his wife Rita Sahu joined the BJD, she also decided to follow her path.
Meanwhile, chief spokesperson of State BJP Sajjan Sharma said Ritarani had joined BJD without any consultation with her supporters in Congress. He said the BJD is now luring the disgruntled Congress leaders to the party keeping an eye on the by-poll. He said many top and senior leaders of other political parties will soon join the BJP.
Stating that daily meetings of the BJD supremo with party leaders over Bijepur has exposed his anxiety over the by-poll, Sharma criticised the Chief Minister for neglecting other issues including the deteriorating law and order situation for vote politics.