Who is Srikant Jena? Ex-minister who has rejoined Congress in Odisha

Former Union minister Srikant Jena returned to the Congress on Wednesday. At a press conference at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, the party's in-charge of Odisha Ajoy Kumar welcomed Jena into the party.

"There were some misunderstandings which have now been clarified. I met Congress President (Mallikarjun Kharge), KC Venugopal. We had a long chat with Ajoy ji and it has been sorted out. I have been working in favour of the Congress even though I have been away," he said.

Following his induction, Jena hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) alliance in Odisha.

He said that the INDIA bloc will defeat the BJP-BJD's "unholy alliance" in Odisha. The minister told media that the BJP and BJD had been in a "live-in" relationship and it is high time that the "marriage" between the two parties be made official.

Jena is a four-time Lok Sabha member. The Congress party had expelled him in January 2019 for "anti-party" activities. Following his exit from Congress in 2019, Jena launched --Samajika Nyay Abhiyan, a non-political platform that advocated for a social justice movement.

Jena began his political career in Janata Patry and became an MLA in the Odisha Assembly in 1977 from Bari in Jaipur district. He represented Bari till 1989. Later, he switched to Congress and became one of the key faces of the party in the state.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress may field Jena from a coastal constituency as he had won twice from Cuttack (1989 to 1991 and 1991 to 1996) and once from the Kendrapada seat (1996 to 1998) and Balasore ( 2009 to 2014), respectively. In 2014, Jena was defeated in the Lok Sabha polls from Balasore.

PM Modi-led BJP and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik's BJD are