Bhubaneswar: Chilika MLA and suspended BJD leader Prashant Jagdev joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday in the presence of Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi and senior party leader Prithviraj Harichandan among others at the state party headquarters in Bhubaneswar.
Jagdev won as an MLA from Begunia constituency in Khurda district in 2014 on a BJD ticket. In 2019, he successfully contested from Chilika Assembly Constituency.
Jagdev was suspended from BJD in September 2021 after he was accused of assaulting a Dalit leader of the BJP near Chilika Lake.
He was also arrested in connection with the case and sent to jail. He was again arrested in March 2022 for allegedly ploughing his SUV into a crowd of mostly BJP supporters and police personnel, outside the Banapur block office in the Khurda district.