Former BJD MP Baijayant Panda joins BJP

NEW DELHI: Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Jay Panda on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here in the presence of Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Juel Oram and other senior party leaders.

Panda, a four-time member of Parliament, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kendrapara constituency of Odisha in 2014. He was suspended from the BJD for "anti-party activities" on January 24, 2018.

Having been at loggerheads with Odisha Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik for months, Panda finally quit the party on May 28 last year, two weeks after he tendered his resignation as the Lok Sabha member.

He was also elected to the Lok Sabha in May 2009 from Kendrapara parliamentary constituency. Earlier, he twice represented his state in the Rajya Sabha between 2000 and 2006.

One of the founding members of the BJD, Panda worked in the corporate sector before joining politics.