Eight-time Bhadrak MP Arjun Sethi joins BJP

Bhubaneswar: Sitting Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP from Bhadrak Parliamentary constituency in Odisha, Arjun Charan Sethi joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday.

The former Union Minister, who had resigned from the BJD earlier today, resenting denial of party ticket to his son Abhimanyu Sethi, joined the saffron party along with his son at party headquarters here in the presence of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan state in-charge Arun Singh and other senior leaders.

BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had replaced the eight-time MP with Manjulata Mandal, the wife of sitting Dhamnagar MLA Muktikant Mandal.

Sethi had won the Bhadrak Lok Sabha seat twice, as a Congress candidate in 1971 and 1980 and as a Janata Dal candidate in 1991. He was re-elected from the same seat in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 on a BJD ticket.

BJP insiders said, Sethi’s son Abhimanyu was likely to be fielded from Bhadrak in the ensuing polls.

Former Jajpur MP Mohan Jena also joined the BJP today. He had resigned from the ruling BJD on Thursday.

The upcoming simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha are slated to be held in four phases from April 11 to April 29.

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