Bhubaneswar: Khariar MLA Adhiraj Mohan Panigrahi resigned from the primary membership of Congress today and is very likely to join the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday.
This was another jolt for the Congress after former Rajnagar MLA Ansuman Mohanty deserted the party and joined the BJD in February.
Panigarahi has sent his resignation letter to Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Sarat Pattanayak. He resigned from the primary membership of the Congress along with other party posts. Now, speculations are rife that Panigarahi will join BJD tomorrow.
After quitting Congress, Panigrahi told media persons that the position of Congress is weak in the state and he has resigned on the suggestions of the people.
When asked about his next move, the MLA said that he would take a final call after a discussion with his supporters. Panigrahi also affirmed that he would be contesting for the Khariar Assembly seat in the 2024 elections.
Notably, in the 2019 elections, Adhiraj Mohan Panigrahi was elected to the Khariar Legislative Assembly on a Congress ticket. He won by securing 59,308 votes against BJD’s Lambodar Nial who got 56,451 votes.
In his reactions to Panigrahi’s resignation from the Congress, OPCC Chief Sarat Pattanayak said, “There are suitable candidates to contest for the Khariar seat. Deserting a party and joining a new one is a common phenomenon before elections and there is nothing new in this case”.
Pattanayak, however, mentioned that “some people only change party for personal benefits”.
