Odisha: Veteran BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra’s son Aurobinda joins BJD
By Nalini Sahu
Bhubaneswar, March 7: Ending months of speculations, veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bijoy Mohapatra’s son Aurobinda Mohapatra joined Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and senior leaders of the party welcomed Aurobinda into the party fold at Naveen Niwas, the CM’s residence.
Aurobinda, a software engineer, has been active in Patkura assembly constituency for over five years now. He is most likely to contest from the seat.
Bijoy was elected to Odisha Legislative Assembly for four terms – from 1980-1985, 1985-1990, 1990-1995 and 1995-2000 – from Patkura assembly seat.
“Since 2019, I have been working for the development of Patkura. I felt that I need a platform to take Patkura constituency to new heights of development. I held wide consultations with the people of before taking this decision. I also took blessings of Lord Jagannath and my father to start my political career from BJD as believed to expedite the development process in my constituency,” said Aurobinda.
He also thanked BJD president and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his most trusted aide V Karthikeyan Pandian for allowing him to join the party.
Bijoy Mohapatra was the key architect behind the formation of the BJD in 1997. He, however, was shunted out of BJD by the party president Naveen Patnaik in 2000. Later, he formed Odisha Gana Parishad.
The OGP which won 4 seats in 2004 Assembly elections merged with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 2007.
Mohapatra joined BJP in 2012. Although he contested from Mahakalpara in 2014 and Patkura in 2019, he lost on the BJP tickets, he lost on both the occasions.
