BHUBANESWAR: As political parties get down to the difficult business of candidate selection for the upcoming General Elections, party hopping by aspirants continued with the ruling BJD emerging as the favoured destination for a majority of leaders.
Even as State unit BJP president Basant Panda was busy at New Delhi at the joining ceremony of sitting Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi to the party, his nephew Harishchandra Panda joined the ruling party along with supporters at Naveen Nivas in the presence of party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday.
Welcoming Harishchandra, who was the president of State unit of Shiv Sena, the Chief Minister said his inclusion in the BJD will strengthen the party.
After joining the regional outfit, Harishchandra criticised his uncle (Basant Panda) for working only in the interest of his party by neglecting Nuapada. He said BJP has lost its base in Nuapada and the party lacks democracy. Stating that there has been a lot of development work in Odisha under the BJD rule, Harishchandra told mediapersons that he joined BJD inspired by the leadership of the Chief Minister to serve the people.
Senior BJP leader Pratap Sarangi, however, said Harischandra joining the BJD will have no impact on the saffron party in Odisha. Panda too downplayed the development and said, “BJP is not a party of brokers or sycophants. I do not control my nephew and I have nothing to worry about who goes where.”