Bhubaneswar: The auspicious occasion of Kartika Purnima and it’s a moment of welcome ceremony at BJP office for new-comers. As former minister and four-time MLA from Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Sanjeev Sahoo, along with hundreds of supporters, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday.
Sahoo had resigned from the BJD on November 3. In his resignation letter to BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Sahoo cited personal reasons as the ground for quitting the party. He had been elected to the State Assembly from Birmaharajpur constituency in 2003 by-poll and then again in 2004 general elections. He was minister of Panchayati Raj from May 2005 to February 2008.
Sahoo was subsequently elected as a legislator from Athmallik Assembly constituency on two consecutive terms during the general elections in 2009 and 2014. But Sahoo was denied BJD ticket in 2019 elections and former bureaucrat Ramesh Sai was nominated by the party for Athmallik seat.
