Bhubaneswar, March 3: BJD's Jayadev MLA Arabinda Dhali and former Malkangiri MLA Mukunda Sodi have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today.
Arabinda Dhali, a five-time MLA, had resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday. He was inducted into the BJP in the presence of party leaders.
Mukunda Sodi, a tribal leader, also embraced the saffron party ahead of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. He had resigned from the BJD, citing negligence and disrespect within the party ranks.
Arabinda Dhali was elected to the state Assembly for the first time from Malkangiri in a by-election in 1992 on a BJP ticket and retained the seat for two consecutive terms. Dhali joined the BJD before the 2009 elections and won from Jayadev Assembly constituency, which he retained in 2019. Previously he served as Minister for Cooperation, Textile and Handloom, and Commerce and Transport in the Naveen Patnaik government between 2000 and 2004 when BJD-BJP had an alliance.
Mukunda Sodi, former MLA from Malkangiri constituency, won as an MLA in 2009 on a BJD ticket. He was denied the party ticket in 2014. However, he contested on a BJD ticket in 2019 but lost to the BJP candidate.
Former Dhamnagar MLA Rajendra Kumar Das, who was expelled from BJD in 2022, is also slated to join BJP on March 4, according to party sources.
