Former Sambalpur MP Nagendra Pradhan Joins Congress After Quitting BJD

Angul: Former Sambalpur MP Nagendra Kumar Pradhan embraced the Congress after resigning from the ruling BJD.

He joined the party in the presence of Congress party’s Odisha state in-charge Ajoy Kumar on Thursday.

“We are happy to welcome Nagendra ji who is a person with a clean image. He will help strengthen the party in Sambalpur and the entire region,” said Ajoy Kumar.

Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a big fight between the BJP candidate and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJD’s organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das. Dulal Chandra Pradhan is the Congress candidate in Sambalpur.

Nagendra Pradhan won from Athamallik assembly seat as a CPI-M candidate in 1990. Later on, he joined the BJD to win from the same Assembly segment in 2000 and 2004. He was elected as BJD MP from the Sambalpur LS seat in 2014. He was denied a BJD ticket in 2019.