Odisha: Former Minister Balabhadra Majhi Joins Congress
Key Points
Ahead of the 2024 elections to the Lok Sabha and Odisha Legislative Assembly, former Minister and the ruling BJD’s prominent tribal leader from Kalahandi district Balabhadra Majhi joined the Congress party on Wednesday.
Bhawanipatna, Jan 24: Ahead of the 2024 elections to the Lok Sabha and Odisha Legislative Assembly, former Minister and the ruling BJD’s prominent tribal leader from Kalahandi district Balabhadra Majhi joined the Congress party on Wednesday.
Majhi, a five-time former MLA, had resigned from the BJD recently.
He joined the Congress at a public rally along with his supporters in the presence of the party’s Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar, OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak and several senior leaders of the party.
“I am a tribal leader and a founding member of the BJD. However, I could not get due respect in the BJD, so I had to quit the party. Now, I will work for the Congress,” he said after joining the grand old party.
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✨Majhi was first elected to the assembly from Narla in 1990 on a Janata Dal ticket. He was reelected from Narla in 1995, and later from the Lanjigarh seat in 2000, 2004 and 2014.
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The BJD denied him a ticket in 2019, and fielded Pradeep Kumar Disari from Lanjigarh.
Majhi served as the minister of SC, ST Development in the Naveen Patnaik government twice between 2002 and 2006.