“Expelled” BJD MLA Prashant Jagdev Joins BJP

Bhubaneswar: Suspended BJD leader and Chilika MLA Prashant Jagdev joined the BJP on Thursday. He joined the saffron party in the presence of Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi and senior party leader Prithviraj Harichandan at the BJP headquarters in Bhubaneswar. BJP’s co-in-charge for Odisha, Lata Usendi was also present during the occasion.

Jagdev was the BJD MLA from Begunia constituency in Khurda district in 2014 on a BJD ticket. In 2019, he won as BJD candidate from the Chilika Assembly Constituency.

Jagdev was suspended from BJD in September 2021 after he was accused of assaulting a Dalit leader of the BJP near Chilika Lake. He arrested in connection with the case and sent to jail. He was again arrested in March 2022 for allegedly ploughing his SUV into a crowd of mostly BJP supporters and police personnel, outside Banapur block office in the Khurda district.

In January 2023, Jagdev had expressed hope that the BJD party would revoke his suspension. But it never happened. BJD leader Pinaki Mishra had then told the media that if a suspension is not revoked within three months then it is treated as deemed expulsion. “Therefore, the party position is that the Chilika MLA stands expelled from the party,” Mishra had said.

Earlier this month, another leader expelled from the BJP, Pradeep Panigrahy, a three-time MLA from Gopalpur, had joined the BJP. He was expelled from the BJD in November 2020 for his alleged ‘anti-people’ activities.