In boost to BJP in Odisha, former Naveen aide joins party

The BJP’s Odisha unit got a shot in the arm ahead of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls after expelled BJD leader and Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy joined the party on Wednesday.

The three-time MLA, once considered to be the blue-eyed boy of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, was expelled from the BJD for “anti-people” activities in November 2020. Since then, he has been facing multiple cases of alleged corruption and cheating. BJP state president Manmohan Samal claimed Panigrahy has been a “victim of various political situations”, alleging vendetta politics.

Welcoming the 60-year-old to the party, Samal said Panigrahy’s entry will strengthen the BJP in the Ganjam district, a BJD stronghold and bastion of CM Patnaik. Ganjam, within which Panigrahy’s Gopalpur seat falls, is the state’s most populous district, with 2 Lok Sabha and 13 Assembly seats. The BJP is yet to announce which seat Panigrahy will contest from, whether in the Lok Sabha or Assembly polls.

Panigrahy’s induction into the BJP comes a day before Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to address a rally in the Gopalpur constituency.

The Gopalpur MLA, who has been targeting Patnaik and his close aide V K Pandian since he was dismissed from the BJD, mounted a fresh attack immediately after joining the BJP. “A lot of development has taken place in the country under the leadership of PM Modi. The world is today looking at India because of Modiji’s leadership. Time has come for a change in Odisha and to throw away the corrupt government. We will work with the ‘Odia first’ approach,” Panigrahy told reporters.

Considering Panigrahy’s clout, the BJP aims to cut into the BJD’s votes in several Assembly seats. As the BJD’s face in Ganjam for