Biju Panda joins BJP 9 months after walking out of BJD

New Delhi: In Odisha, where the BJP has been aggressively campaigning to increase its support base as well as the vote share, the saffron party got a boost on Monday with former BJD MP Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda joining the saffron fold. Once a close associate of BJD supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the former Kendrapara MP had a major fall out with the BJD leadership and was suspended from the party over his perceived proximity with the BJP.

Mr Panda later resigned from the BJD and his parliamentary seat in June last year.  After joining the BJP, Mr Panda said that he admired Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah’s leadership.

Odisha has 21 parliamentary seats and the state goes to polls simultaneously with the general elections. In 2014, the BJP managed to win only one parliamentary berth and only 10 of the total 147 assembly constituencies, with Naveen Patnaik led BJD continuining its dominance over the state.

Before formally joining the BJP fold, Mr Panda met party president Amit Shah along with party state incharge Arun Singh and Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Soon after joining the saffron fold, Mr Panda tweeted: “Nine months of introspection and  widespread consultations with colleagues and public. Grateful for support received from all over. On auspicious MahaShivratri I have decided to join the BJP and  work under the leadership PM Narendra Modi to serve Odisha and India to the best of my ability.”

The BJD had accused Mr Panda of “anti-party activities”. It later alleged that Mr Panda was involved in money laundering and sought a probe into it. Mr Panda had denied the charge.