Bhubaneswar: Former BJD MLA Pravat Ranjan Biswal Sunday joined the ruling BJP along with a large number of supporters here in the presence of Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and state BJP president Manmohan Samal.
Biswal, who was expelled from the BJD for opposing the selection of a party candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections in March this year, reached the BJP state headquarters from Master Canteen Square in a procession.
“I joined the BJP after being influenced by the ideals and pro-people works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Biswal said.
Welcoming Biswal to the saffron party, Majhi said, “It is a big blow to the BJD. Biswal’s joining will strengthen the BJP, and it will have an impact in the entire Cuttack district. Pravat Babu is a popular leader, and his joining the BJP will open a new chapter in Cuttack politics.”
Samal said that Biswal is an efficient organiser and his joining the party will help to strengthen the party in the coastal region.
However, BJD came down heavily on the BJP and ridiculed the saffron party for inducting an accused in the chit-fund scam.
“Biswal’s joining the BJP will absolutely have no impact on the BJD. He is a rotten egg. He availed all benefits from BJD and now joined the BJP,” Opposition chief whip and senior BJD leader Pramila Mallik said.
BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said, “The BJP has inducted a chit-fund accused person. The same party had assured the people of Odisha before the 2024 elections to punish chit-fund accused persons. Now, the BJP has become a shelter for the chit-fund accused persons.”
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das said he should not comment on Biswal’s joining, keeping in view his public image. “The BJP has turned out to be a house of thieves. They have taken a chit-fund accused person in Odisha.”
Biswal, who was first elected to the Cuttack-Choudwar assembly segment as an Independent candidate, later won the same seat twice in 2009 and 2014 as a BJD nominee. He was denied a party ticket by BJD president Naveen Patnaik after Biswal was arrested and jailed in a chit-fund case in 2017.
However, Patnaik fielded his (Pravat) son’s Souvic Biswal in the Cuttack-Choudwar seat, and he retained the father’s seat in 2019 and 2024.
Souvic was recently suspended from the BJD for allegedly cross-voting against the BJD’s official candidate in Rajya Sabha polls and supporting the ruling BJP nominee.
Biswal was arrested by the CBI in 2017 in connection with his alleged involvement in the Seashore chit-fund scam and later granted bail by the Orissa High Court in 2018. In 2022, the Enforcement Directorate had attached assets worth Rs 3.92 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as part of its investigation into the alleged scam.
The former BJD MLA joined the BJP barely a week after the Orissa High Court refused to quash his petition seeking criminal proceedings against him in the Seashore chit fund case.