Baijayant Panda joins BJP in New Delhi, BJD unruffled

Bhubaneswar: Former BJD parliamentarian Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda on Monday joined BJP in New Delhi, putting to rest months of speculation about his political move since he severed his ties with the state’s ruling party nine months ago.
“There was a probability of my joining BJP 22 years ago (when BJD was formed with BJP’s help in 1997). Unfortunately, it took me 22 years to come here,” the industrialist-turned-politician said soon after he joined the national party.

Senior state BJP leaders such as Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram, Arun Singh (BJP’s Odisha in-charge), Basanta Panda (state BJP chief) and KV Singhdeo (state legislature party leader) were present at the BJP national headquarters where Baijayant was inducted into the saffron party. Later, Baijayant called on BJP national president Amit Shah.

As he tried to project BJP as his natural choice, Baijayant was generous in his praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He remarked, “It’s no secret that I have admired Prime Minister Modi’s leadership and the direction in which he is taking this country.”

The 55-year-old leader, who was once regarded as BJD’s face in Delhi, was unsparing in his criticism of his former party where he spent almost 22 years. He said, “We have a situation in the state where governance has sharply deteriorated over the years. In the early years when BJD was an ally of BJP (from 2000 to 2009), there were certain norms.”

Baijayant said corruption and crime against women have gone up in the state “because of the continued rule of one party”. He added, “Pregnant women have to be carried to hospital on shoulders. This needs to change and only BJP can bring about this change.”