Veteran politician Arun Dey back to BJD fold again

Bhubaneswar: Senior politician Arun Dey is back to Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) fold ahead of bye-election to Balasore Assembly Seat scheduled on November 3 this year.

The five-time former Balasore legislator joined the BJD camp in presence of the party leaders Rabindra Jena, Pratap Jena, Pratap Deb and Pranab Prakash Das at  a meeting held in Balasore today.

The 75-year-old leader had last contested the assembly poll from Balasore in 2014 on Congress ticket. However, he lost to the BJD candidate Jiban Pradip Das in the election.

He had joined the BJD only for 10 days in the year 2014. Later, he left the party and joined the Congress after being denied ticket to contest Lok Sabha or Assembly polls in the same year.

Prior to that, Dey was fielded as the NCP candidate for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. However, he had lost to Congress’ Srikant Jena in the elections.

The politician was elected to the State Legislative Assembly from Balasore thrice on NCP ticket. He won the poll once as the Independent candidate and once on Odisha Gana Parishad (OGP) ticket.