Bhubaneswar: Former BJD MP Jayaram Pangi, who had recently severed ties with Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Saturday joined the Congress and vowed to fight against the ruling party in Odisha and the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
Pangi along with former chief minister Giridhar Gamang had joined BRS in Hyderabad in the presence of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao in January this year.
The prominent tribal leader from southern Odisha had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a BJP candidate from Koraput but later quit the saffron party.
Pangi joined the Congress in the presence of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Sarat Pattanayak and senior leaders at the party’s state headquarters here.
“I will work hard to restore the glory of Congress in the state. I know the strategy of both the BJD and the BJP. My experience will help Congress in Odisha,” he said.
He had won the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency on a BJD ticket in 2009. However, he resigned from the party and joined BJP in May 2017.
He was also elected to the Odisha assembly four times from the Pottangi segment in Koraput district.
PTI
