BHUBANESWAR: In a major setback to Biju Janata Dal (BJD), ahead of the by-election in Nuapada, its former Rajya Sabha member Amar Patnaik joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and state president Manmohan Samal on Monday.
This comes as a strategic move to demoralise BJD and send a message to the people of the state, especially Nuapada voters, that the regional party is crumbling.
The BJP leadership chose this day to embrace Amar Patnaik as the BJD president, and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched a campaign for the party's candidate Snehangini Chhuria from Komna block of Nuapada district.
Welcoming Patnaik into the BJP, the chief minister said the day was significant since it was the last Monday of the holy month of Kartika, and Naveen Babu is in Nuapada for campaigning.
''Amar Babu's next move is to campaign for the party in Nuapada," he said.
Majhi further said that Amar Patnaik has “freed” himself from an atmosphere of “political suffocation” within the BJD.
Inspired by the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he joined the BJP. "I joined the BJP to serve the nation. I quit my government job in 2018 and became an MP in 2019. So long, I have worked for the development of the State, and now the time has come to dedicate myself to nation-building," Patnaik said.
During his stint in BJD, Patnaik also served as the IT cell chief of the regional party.
