Sitting MLA of the Jayadev Assembly seat in Odisha, Arabinda Dhali, announced his resignation from the Biju Janata Dal on Saturday and said that he would join the opposition BJP. Five-time MLA Dhali said that he had tendered his resignation to BJD President and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik via e-mail, news agency PTI reported.
On joining the BJP Dhali stated: "I have resigned from BJD. I am going to join the BJP, I was in the BJP earlier. I have served as party president and in Odisha I have also talked to senior leaders about this. Everyone has given me the green signal."
"I was inspired by the Honourable PM Modi's work and Bharat is going to be Viswa Guru. The whole world is giving respect to Narendra Modi. I will dedicate the rest of my life to the BJP and work accordingly for the betterment of the people. My heart wants me to work with BJP therefore I am joining the party."
He also mentioned that he didn't get comfort while working in the BJD party and decided to join the BJP.
Dhali's Previous Party Associations
Dhali was initially elected to the assembly from the Malkangiri seat in 1992 in a by-election on a BJP ticket. Subsequently, he retained the seat for two consecutive terms but later joined the BJD. He was then elected to the assembly from Jayadev in 2009 and won the 2019 election from the seat.
In April 2006, Dhali along with the former Deputy Speaker of Pdisha Legislative Assembly Rama Chandra Panda quit BJP and joined Uma Bhartee's Bharatiya Janshakti Party. Later in 2008 he joined Samajwadi Party but jumped the ship to join Biju Janata Dal.
The former BJD MLA was the Transport and Corporation Minister in the Odisha CM's government and was the MLA from the Khorda district.
Last month, expelled BJD MLAs Pradeep Panigrahy and Prashant Jagdev also joined the saffron party. Additionally, BJD's former state minister Debasis Nayak also switched sides recently.
Odisha's assembly elections are slated to be held along with the Lok Sabha polls.