Damayanti Beshra, Padma Shri awardee, author and a Santhali activist, as well as actor-politician Siddhant Mahapatra also joined BJP along with Mahtab. Mahapatra was BJD MP from Berhampur constituency for two terms from 2009-19.
BJP sources said more leaders from BJD are likely to switch over to the saffron camp in the coming days. As the Odisha Assembly elections are on simultaneously with the general elections, BJP is eyeing candidates from the BJD camp for both polls.
Mahtab became an MP from Cuttack in 1998 and has been in the Lok Sabha since then. He was on the panel of chairpersons in the Lower House in the 17th Lok Sabha and is known for his well-researched speeches inside Parliament and active interventions in the parliamentary committees.
Failure to stitch an alliance with BJD came as a setback for the BJP central leadership which has set an ambitious target of crossing 400 seats for the NDA. It had won 8 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats from Odisha in 2019 while BJD had won 12.
Mahtab will contest from Cuttack while Mahapatra is likely to be fielded from Berhampur which was won by Chandra Sekhar Sahu of BJD in 2019.Another former BJD leader Baijayant Jay Panda had moved to BJP some years back and has been given key party work as a Vice President in the organization. He is the BJP candidate from Kendrapara while union minister Dharmendra Pradhan- who till now was a member of the Rajya Sabha- is in the fray from Sambalpur.Actor-politician Anubhav Mohanty, who is BJD MP from Kendrapara, may also move to BJP in the coming days.
Source link
