Baijaiyant Jay Panda – former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader from the Odisha’s ruling party – joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday. He had quit the BJD after major differences with chief minister of the state, Naveen Patnaik.
Panda today spoke of his appreciation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party’s national president Amit Shah, after formally joining the party. The BJP has long been keen on expanding its presence in Odisha and Panda’s entry into the party is significant due to that. He has been a powerful leader in Odisha for many years.
Having represented the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat till his resignation last year, the MP is known for his critical views of the Odisha CM. Panda has been a parliamentarian four times.
After the BJP’s winning performance in panchayat polls in Odisha in 2017, Jay Panda had called for “introspection” in the BJD ranks. There have been talks of him joining the BJP doing the rounds for several months now. Among other speculations was that he would float his own party or join the Congress.
While Panda joining the BJP is bad news for the BJD, officially the leaders of the ruling party in Odisha have said that it will not make any difference in the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the state that are expected to take place simultaneously.
