JAGATSINGHPUR: Former BJP leader Ramakant Bhoi, who resigned from the saffron party after being denied ticket, joined BJD along with hundreds of his supporters on Monday.
Bhoi joined the ruling party in presence of Water Resources Minister Raghunanadan Das in Bhubaneswar. He was the BJP candidate in 2014 and 2019 elections from Tirtol. Sources said in absence of Bhoi, the BJP will face an uphill task to perform well in the upcoming Tirtol bypoll.
The BJP has fielded Rajkishore Behera from Tirtol. Behera, who had unsuccessfully contested the 20o9 and 2014 elections from Tirtol on Congress ticket, had quit the grand old party last month.
Bhoi said, “I had tendered my resignation from BJP on October 6 as I was being ignored by State party leaders. After my resignation, no BJP leaders expect Union Minister Pratap Sarangi contacted me. The BJP gave ticket to an outsider by overlooking me though I worked hard to strengthen the party’s organisational base in Tirtol. I will continue to work for development of Tirtol under the leadership of BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.”
In 2009 Assembly elections, the BJP had fared badly in Tirtol and had secured only 4,514 votes. Bhoi contested the 2014 polls from BJP and managed to bag 14,516 votes. In the next elections in 2019, Bhoi received 53,581 votes.
Sources said thousands of panchayat level BJP leaders and workers, who are supporters of Bhoi, will soon join BJD.
Meanwhile, BJP’s MLA candidate Behera filed his nomination papers before the returning officer on the day.