New Delhi, May 26 (H.S.): Debashish Samantaray, who resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and his Rajya Sabha membership a day earlier, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday. He formally joined the party at the BJP headquarters in the presence of National General Secretary Arun Singh.

On the occasion, Debashish said that he had been deeply influenced by the working style and leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He stated that after joining the BJP, he would now be able to work more effectively for the development of the state. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Member of Parliament Anil Baluni were also present on the occasion.

After resigning from the BJD and his Rajya Sabha membership on Monday, Samantaray had alleged that he was being continuously sidelined within the party.

Debashish was elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly three times on a BJD ticket. He served once as MLA from Tirtol and twice from the Cuttack-Barabati constituency. The BJD had nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in 2024.

Debashish was considered to be one of Naveen Patnaik’s close associates. Following his departure from the party, the number of BJD members in the Rajya Sabha has come down to five. Prior to him, two other BJD Rajya Sabha MPs — Mamata Mohanta and Sujeet Kumar — had also resigned from the party.

Both were later elected to the Rajya Sabha on BJP tickets.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar