Kendrapara’s former Member of Parliament (MP), Archana Nayak left the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the party office in Bhubaneswar on Friday.
Nayak was elected from the Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency on a BJD ticket in 2004. It was a homecoming for Nayak as she distanced herself from the party after the 2009 elections when she contested from the Bhubaneswar Parliamentary seat on a BJP ticket and subsequently crossed over to the BJD.
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Ahead of the 2024 general elections, she has returned back to the BJP. Besides Nayak, incumbent Derabis block chairperson, Prabhati Mallick and former block chairman Saroj Sahu also joined the saffron camp in the presence of BJP state president Manmohan Samal and other leaders. They joined with scores of their followers.
“Former MP Archana Nayak has returned. Present and past block chairpersons have also joined the BJP, the world’s largest political party. I extend them a warm welcome,” said Samal.
As the BJP has announced that it will go solo in the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the joining and homecoming of leaders are viewed as a shot in the arm for the party.