"If some leaders wish to return to BJD, we'll certainly examine the matter," Patnaik told reporters replying to a question on his party's efforts to unite Biju Parivar.
Stating that some leaders had left the party due to some reason or the other, Patnaik remarked that he had already taken back four NCP MLAs into the party fold.
Former NCP legislature party leader Amar Satpathy was earlier with the BJD and had served Patnaik's council of ministers from 2000 to 2002 before joining the Sharad Pawar-led party.
The BJD's three vice-presidents -- Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadai, Health Minister Prasanna Acharya and former minister Damodor Rout -- welcomed Patnaik's move to open doors for leaders who had earlier quit the party due to differences with Mohapatra.
"As Pyari Mohan Mohapatra has already been suspended from the party, many leaders now want to return to the BJD. Some leaders had quit the party because of Mohapatra," Ghadai said. (More)