BHUBANESWAR: A day after resigning from the BJP, sitting Khariar MLA and former Minister Duryodhan Majhi on Saturday joined the BJD. Majhi quit BJP after he was denied renomination by the party.
The tribal leader and five-time MLA rejoined the regional party, which he had quit in 2014 for the same reason, in the presence of party president Naveen Patnaik. Duryodhan had quit BJP on Friday after the saffron party replaced him with Rita Rani Bagarti, wife of former MLA Hitesh Bagarti, for the Khariar Assembly segment.
Besides, BJD leader Brundaban Majhi tendered his resignation from the primary membership of the party on Saturday. In a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Majhi cited irregularities in the allotment of party tickets as the reason. Sources said Brundaban would rejoin the BJP and might get ticket to contest from Jharsuguda Assembly seat.
Majhi had won the Laikera seat as a BJP candidate in the 2004 Assembly elections by defeating his rival Congress candidate and former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal by a slender margin of 1,344 votes. He had joined the BJD on March 13, 2009 and was offered the ticket to contest from Kuchinda Assembly seat. However, he finished third behind Congress and BJP nominees.