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History Repeats Itself: Mahendra Naik Deserts Congress Ahead Of Jharsuguda Bypoll In Odisha
In big jolt to Congress ahead of Jharsuguda bypoll, Congress leader Mahendra Naik joined Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday.
The Congressman was officially inducted to Odisha’s ruling party in presence of BJD Rajya Sabha Member Manas Mangaraj during a special programme ‘Mishran Parva’ at the BJD party office here today.
Naik had finished third in 2019 Assembly elections after BJD’s Naba Kishore Das and Dinesh Kumar Jain of BJP. The party, however, ignored him for the bypoll and instead fielded Tarun Pandey, son of the late Biren Pandey, who was a former Jharsuguda MLA and was elected to the Odisha Assembly three times on a Congress ticket in 1980, 1985, and 1995.
Ironically for the Congress, it was a repeat of 2019 when it had lost a stalwart in Jharsuguda politics to BJD. Congress Working President and Jharsuguda MLA Naba Kishore Das had joined BJD ahead of the Assembly polls and won the elections for the regional party.
However, the seat fell vacant after he was shot dead by a policeman on January 29. The bypoll is slated for May 10.
