BJP candidate for Anandpur Assembly constituency, Bhagirathi Sethi on Friday joined the Biju Janta Dal (BJD) in presence of party chief Naveen Patnaik.
Sethi was a BJP leader before he switched sides with the BJP.
Sethi was elected to the Odisha assembly from Anandpur in 2009 on a BJD ticket, however, the party in 2014 replaced him with Mayadhar Jena due to which he had resigned from the Patnaik led the party and joined BJP.
After rejoining BJD Sethi said, "I decided to quit BJP as there were a lot of internal fights and conspiracies against me."
Reacting to Sethi's rejoining, Patnaik said, "I am glad that Bhagirathi Sethi has returned to the Biju Janta Dal. His joining will strengthen the party."
Odisha is set to go for a simultaneous poll along with Lok Sabha in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29. The state will be voting simultaneously for parliamentary and assembly constituencies. There are 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in Odisha.