Former IRS officer, Kanika royal family member among others join Odisha BJP

Bhubaneswar: Over a hundred prominent personalities having affiliation with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha today.

Former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sambit Tripathy, Kanika royal family member Durga Devi and former banker and IT expert Rajeswari Das among others joined BJP in the presence of party’s Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and other senior leaders here, sources said.

At least a 100 BJD and Congress activists from five districts–Koraput, Keonjhar, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur—joined BJP at an event at party’s Odisha unit headquarters here, said the saffron party in a statement today.

Senior BJD leaders from Koraput Raghuram Machha and Himanshu Mahapatra along with their supporters shifted their allegiance to BJP. Former IRS officer Sambit Tripathy and Kanika royal family member Durga Devi also formally joined BJP, added the party.

Several Congress leaders from Jagatsinghpur district led by Hazi Liyat Alli and Hazi Abdul Rehman Khan shifted their allegiance to BJP. Similarly, many prominent personalities from Keonjhar district including Fakir Nayak, Prasanna Mahant and Akhaya Sahu also joined the saffron party, sources added.

BJP leaders Jatin Mohanty, Saroj Kar, Prakash Behera and Sumant Pradhan among other were present on the occasion.