ROURKELA: The Sundargarh BJP received a pre-election jolt after senior party leader and social activist HS Sarangi joined the BJD on Saturday.
Sarangi along with some former office bearers of BJP joined the ruling party at Bhubaneswar in presence of Rural Development Minister and Sundargarh district observer Priti Ranjan Gharai.
His departure does not augur well for the BJP as Assembly elections are likely to be held in April and the party’s sitting Sundargarh MLA Kusum Tete faces a close fight from BJD.
Sarangi, a grassroots organiser, was not pulling well with the BJP’s district leadership since long. He revolted in March 2022 when the BJP ignored his wife Ninima Patel and instead nominated Tanaya Mishra for the direct election of chairperson of Sundargarh Municipality reserved for woman candidate. Sarangi fielded his wife as an independent candidate in the election.
Mishra polled 7,812 votes and won with a lead of 1,235 votes over nearest BJD rival Ranjana Panda (6,577 votes). Despite not having party support and strong finance, Sarangi managed to get his wife 6,542 votes due to his connect with people at the grassroots.
Sources said over the last two decades, Sarangi has managed to stay connected with the people by fighting for their rights on different issues. He should be worry for the BJP as BJD has further grown in strength after Tete’s victory from Sundargarh Assembly constituency in 2019 with a lean margin of 7,364 votes over BJD candidate and former MLA Jogesh Singh.
Attacking Sundargarh MP and former union minister Jual Oram, Sarangi alleged that the senior BJP leader has converted the party into his fiefdom and is promoting unscrupulous businessmen who are masquerading as BJP members. “Dedicated workers like me are never allowed to grow in BJP,” he claimed.
However, Tete said Sarangi’s departure would not have any impact on BJP as the Assembly and Parliamentary polls would be held simultaneously on different issues. She further said in the last municipality election, Sarangi’s wife had dented votes of both BJP and BJD.