Former Odisha Minister and four-time Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator Sanjeeb Sahoo joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday. Over hundreds of his supporters also followed suit and joined the saffron party in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the party's Odisha unit president Samir Mohanty, and other senior leaders. The party is hoping to strengthen its base in Athmallik constituency in Angul with the new joiners.
"After consulting my supporters and well-wishers, I have joined the BJP today for development of my constituency," Sahoo said. He resigned from the BJP on November 3rd, citing personal reasons.
Sahoo was first elected as an MLA in a 2003 bypoll from Birmaharajpur constituency in Sonepur district on a BJD ticket. A year later, in 2004, he was re-elected to the Assembly from the same constituency. He was elected from Athmallik constituency, too, twice in 2009 and 2019.
However, during the 2019 polls, the BJD denied Sahoo a ticket and instead fielded former bureaucrat Ramesh Chandra Sai from Athmallik constituency. He felt neglected by the party after the same.
Sahoo served as Minister of State (MoS), Panchayati Raj, Science and Technology from 2006 to 2008. He also held positions of MoS (independent) of School and Mass Education from 2008 to 2009 and Commerce and Transport from 2009 to 2012.