After their seat adjustment bid with BJD failed, JMM Odisha unit President Sudam Marandi and his five colleagues today joined the ruling party in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here.
"I am delighted that Sudam Marandi, who is the state president of JMM, his party's Mayurbhanj district president Bhadab Hansda and legal advisor Sunil Das have joined BJD," Patnaik told reporters.
"This will be tremendous help not only in Mayurbhanj and Sundargrh districts, but the entire state," the BJD supremo said.
Three other JMM leaders - Satyabrat Das, Subhransu Sekhar Deo Babu and Snehasis Panda - also joined the ruling BJD along with Marandi.
Marandi said though they were keen to enter into seat adjustment with BJD for the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, it was not possible to forge an understanding as other JMM leaders raised obstacles.
Therefore, it was decided to join BJD in order to work for the welfare and development of tribals, he said, adding they would work as per the instruction of the BJD chief.
It may be noted that Naveen Patnaik and Sudam Marandi had announced about the possible seat adjustment on Friday.
While BJD claimed that the seat adjustment attempt could not be made due to demand of more seats by JMM, sources said Shibu Soren was opposed to having any agreement with the Naveen Patnaik's party in Odisha.
In a similar development, senior NCP leader and former MLA from Balasore, Arun Dey also joined BJD this evening. Dey had contested the 2009 election as NCP candidate from Balasore Lok Sabha constituency but lost to Srikant Jena of Congress.
