Bhubaneswar: Baijayant Jay Panda formally joins BJP, criticises Naveen Patnaik
Bhubaneswar: Putting all speculations to rest, former BJD Lok Sabha member Baijayant Jay Panda on Monday formally joined the BJP in New Delhi in the presence of senior party leaders.
He later met BJP national president Amit Shah and held a discussion on the state of affairs in Odisha.
Senior state leaders – K.V. Singh Deo, Basant Panda, Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram – were also present during the ‘mishran parba’.
“Baijayant Panda’s induction to BJP is a signal of party’s growing strength in Odisha. BJP will definitely benefit from this,” Mr Pradhan said on this occasion.
Mr Pradhan then invited Mr Panda to address media on the occasion.
“I accept the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah and I believe their leadership will take India forward. It is no secret that I have admired Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and the direction in which he is taking the country and Amit Shah ji’s leadership has made the party not just the largest in the country but the most effective political party in the whole world,” Mr Panda said after the induction programme.
The former lawmaker said governance in Odisha had sharply deteriorated in recent years and there was anarchy all around.
“In the early years, when it was an ally of the BJP there were certain norms that had been followed which have all been lost in recent years. You have seen the extremely high rise in crimes, especially against women and children, extremely high levels of corruption. After a very long period of four terms of continued rule by one party you can see the situation where pregnant women and people that have passed on had to be carried on shoulders across rivers that don’t have bridges, and many other such very disappointing sights. This needs changing and only the BJP is capable of doing this. Prime Minister Modi has demonstrated that he is capable of taking extremely difficult and tough decisions which are in the long term interest of the country. Whether they be economic or you have seen in very recent times whether they have to do with the defence of our nation against the scourge of 30 years of terrorism,” he added.
Mr Panda was touted to join the saffron party ever since he fell from the grace of BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik.
The former Kendrapara MP courted controversy on numerous occasions for his opinion pieces in national newspapers praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and criticising the style of functioning of Mr Patnaik.
The 55-year-old leader, who claimed to be one of the founding members of the BJD, alleged that the party had deviated from its core ideology and the government was being run by bureaucrats.
In January 2018, Mr Panda was suspended from the BJD on the charge of “anti-party” activities. He resigned from the BJD on May 28, 2018.
