Odisha: BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra’s son Aravind joins Naveen Patnaik-led BJD
Aravind, a software engineer, joined the BJD in the presence of chief minister and party leader Naveen Patnaik at Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneshwar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bijoy Mohapatra’s son Aravind Mohapatra on Thursday joined the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha even as the senior leaders of the two parties continued to negotiate the seat-sharing ratio for the upcoming assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
Aravind, a software engineer, joined the BJD in the presence of chief minister and party leader Naveen Patnaik at Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar. “You have my blessings,” Patnaik told Aravind.
After joining the party, Aravind thanked CM Patnaik for the opportunity. “I would like to thank chief minister Naveen Patnaik for giving me the opportunity to serve the people with the BJD,” he said.
According to people officials familiar with the matter, the party may consider Aravind for the Patkura assembly constituency in the coastal Kendrapara district, from where his father was denied a BJD ticket in 2000 and has never been able to win since.
“I have been serving the people of Patkura since 2019. I felt I needed a platform from where I could contribute to the area’s development. I had discussed with the voters of Patkura and took the blessings of my father before taking this decision,” Aravind said.
Aravind’s father Bijoy, a long-time aide of former chief minister Biju Patnaik and one of the founder members of the BJD, was unceremoniously ousted from the party just before the 2000 assembly elections after his nomination as a candidate from Patkura assembly seat was cancelled.
Bijoy then floated his own party – the Odisha Gana Parishad in 2001 which was later merged with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He, however, quit the party in protest before the 2009 elections after NCP chief Sharad Pawar decided to ally with the BJD.
In 2010, Bijoy joined the BJP and was made a member of its national executive, but was sidelined following which he quit the party along with former Union minister Dilip Ray in November 2018. He rejoined the BJP in March 2019 and contested the assembly election from Patkura but lost to BJD’s Sabitri Agarwala.
