Odisha: Surendra Singh Bhoi quits Congress, joins Biju Janata Dal

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls, Surendra Singh Bhoi quit the Congress and joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) at Sankha Bhawan on Friday. Bhoi was district Congress Committee (DCC) president of Balangir district. Bhoi resigned from the primary membership, the post of President DCC, Balangir, as well as AICC membership of the Congress party on March 28.

It is to be noted that Surendra Singh Bhoi quit after remaining in the Congress party for 38 years. The development came a day after Cuttack MP Bhatruhari Mahtab and ex-MP Siddharth Mohapatra joined BJP in Delhi on Thursday.

Mahtab had resigned from BJD on March 22. Six-time Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who recently resigned from the BJD and has been representing the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat since 1998. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) emerged as the dominant party, securing 20 out of the 21 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a single seat. Odisha has 21 parliamentary constituencies.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) got the maximum number of seats, followed by the BJP and the Congress. The BJD won 12 seats, the BJP finished a close second at 8 seats and the Congress bagged just a lone seat. The Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, which comprise 21 constituencies, are set to take place in four phases. The voting dates have been scheduled for May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.