BHUBANESWAR: Senior BJP leader Rajkishore Das joined BJD on Monday, two days after ending his 40-year-old association with the saffron party. Soon after his joining, Das dared BJP leaders dreaming to be Odisha Chief Minister to contest against him from Morada Assembly constituency in Mayurbhanj district.
Das formally joined BJD along with his supporters during an induction programme at the party’s headquarters here in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Das, who was the State vice-president of BJP and a political heavyweight in Mayurbhanj district, had resigned from the primary membership of the party on Saturday.
Targeting Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan without naming him, he alleged that some leaders in BJP with chief ministerial ambitions are playing with the political future of senior leaders in the party.
According to sources, Das was an aspirant for Morada Assembly seat in Mayurbhanj, from where his had lost to BJD’s Praveen Chandra Bhanjdeo in 2014 elections. He was overlooked by BJP this year.
The BJP, however, described Das as a selfish person and said the party had fielded him thrice in Assembly elections during the last 15 years but he failed to come out successful.General secretary of Koraput district BJP Bhagaban Petia and several other leaders also joined the BJD on Monday at Naveen Nivas in the presence of the Chief Minister.