Soumya Ranjan Patnaik joins BJD

Bhubaneswar: Ama Odisha Party president and former MP Soumya Ranjan Patnaik joined the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday.

Soumya Ranjan joined the BJD in presence of BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Naveen Niwas here.

The Chief Minister said Soumya Ranjan Patnaik will be a tremendous asset for the BJD.

Founder and editor of leading Odia daily ‘Sambad’, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from Bhubaneswar constituency on Indian National Congress ticket in the year 1996. He was expelled from the Congress party in 2013.

He later founded the Ama Odisha Party on November 26, 2013, and contested in the 2014 elections from Khandapada assembly constituency in Nayagarh. He lost to BJD’s Anubhav Patnaik in the poll by a narrow margin of mere 601 votes.

“Ama Odisha Party virtually merged with BJD. However, a formal announcement would be made in this regard,” said Patnaik after joining the ruling party.