Bhubaneswar, November 3: In a major jolt to BJD ahead of the crucial Nuapada Assembly bye election, senior BJD leader and former BJD Rajya Sabha member Amar Patnaik on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Monday.

The development came at a time when BJD supremo and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was campaigning for the party candidate Snehangini Chhuria in poll-bound Nuapada.

The senior leader joined the saffron party in a formal joining prograame organised at the BJP State party headquarters here in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and party State unit president Manmoahn Samal and party Odisha in-charge Vijaypal Singh Tomar.

Patnaik, the former Principal Accountant General (AG) joined BJD in August 2018 the presence of party president and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha on a BJD ticket too.

Patnaik also headed the IT wing of Naveen Patnaik-led party. An Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) officer, Patnaik had joined BJD after opting for voluntary retirement, nine years before completion of his service in 2018. Odisha apart, Patnaik had also served as principal accountant general of West Bengal and Kerala.