Tribal leader and MLA from Odisha's Biramitrapur George Tirkey joined the Congress Wednesday.
He met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi at the latter's residence in the morning after which he, along with a group of activists fighting to save Mahanadi river, were welcomed in the party by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Niranjan Patnaik and AICC in-charge of the state Bhanwar Jitendra Singh.
On this occasion, Jitendra Singh said Tirkey is a big tribal leader and with him joining the Congress, the party will be strengthened.
In 2009 and 2014, Tirkey was elected from Birmitrapur as an independent legislator. However, he returned to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) fold eight months ago.
A group of Rajputs and Ravana Rajputs also met Rahul on Wednesday and told him about the problems they were facing under the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan, Singh said.