Lok Sabha Election 2024: Shock to BJD, 5-time MLA joins BJP, had resigned from BJD a day before

Bhubaneswar. Five-time member of Odisha Assembly Arvind Dhali and former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Hrishikesh Panda joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday. Former BJD MLA Mukund Sodi, retired Air Marshal Dilip Kumar Patnaik, former joint secretary in Rajya Sabha Ramakant Das and BJD’s Digpahandi block president Bipin Pradhan also joined the BJP. Dhali had resigned from the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the state on Saturday itself. He reached the BJP office in Bhubaneswar along with his supporters and joined the BJP in the presence of party state president Manmohan Samal and MP Aparajita Sarangi and others.

Former MLA Mukund Sodi had also resigned from BJD and joined BJP along with Arvind Dhali. Dhali alleged in the press conference that there is no democracy left within BJD and senior leaders are being ignored. He said, ‘After feeling suffocated, I left BJD and joined BJP where there is internal democracy.’

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Claimed to win more than 100 seats
Dhali, MLA from Jaidev in Khurda district, claimed that BJP will form the next government in the state by winning more than 100 out of 147 assembly seats. Dhali was first elected to the Assembly from Malkangiri seat in 1992 in a by-election on BJP ticket. He won this seat twice more. After this he joined BJD and was elected to the Assembly from Jaydev in 2009. He also won the 2019 elections from this seat.

Arvind Dhali, Bachelor of Laws
Dhali, a law graduate, served as a minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Panda, a 1979 batch topper of IPS, is also a famous novelist. BJD claimed that Dhali’s joining BJP will not affect it. Senior BJD leader Raj Kishore Das said, ‘Before elections, it is normal for many political leaders to move from one party to another. Those leaders whose chances of winning are very less and they know that the party will not field them as candidates, are leaving BJD.

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Tags: BJP, Loksabha Election 2024