Bhawanipatna: The ruling BJD’s prominent tribal leader from Kalahandi district Balabhadra Majhi, a five-time former MLA, joined the Congress Wednesday.
Majhi, also a former minister, had resigned from the BJD recently.
He joined the Congress at a public rally along with his supporters in the presence of the party’s Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar and state president Sarat Pattanayak.
“I am a tribal leader and a founding member of the BJD. However, I could not get due respect in the BJD, so I had to quit the party. Now, I will work for the Congress,” he told reporters after the joining.
Majhi was first elected to the assembly from Narla in 1990 on a Janata Dal ticket. He was reelected from Narla in 1995, and later from the Lanjigarh seat in 2000, 2004 and 2014.
The BJD denied him a ticket in 2019, and fielded Pradeep Kumar Disari from Lanjigarh.
Majhi served as the minister of SC, ST Development in the Naveen Patnaik government twice between 2002 and 2006.
Congress leaders said they were optimistic that Majhi’s joining will boost its prospect among the tribals in the Lok Sabha elections and assembly polls, which are held simultaneously in the state.
Senior Congress functionary Bhakta Charan Das said there was a need for a strong tribal leader like him in the party.
Addressing the meeting, Kumar said that BJD and BJP were in a “live-in relationship” but not admitting it.
Targeting BJD leader VK Pandian, he alleged that Odisha was being ruled by a Tamilian while ministers and MLAs were guarding him, “doing traffic duty”.
“All important contracts have been entrusted to outsiders ignoring Odia people. Odisha should be of Odia people, by Odia people and for Odia people,” he said.
The state Congress president alleged that the BJD government was “ditching people” with false promises and propaganda.
He said a large number of “suffocated BJD leaders and workers” were waiting for an opportunity to quit the party.
“Despite all propaganda and use of government machinery, this time BJD will lose and Congress will come to power in the state,” he claimed.
PTI
