Arjun Charan Sethi quits BJD, joins BJP

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], Mar 30 (ANI): Two-time MLA and six-time Member of Parliament (MP) Arjun Charan Sethi on Saturday resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Sethi joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at the state party headquarter here.

"In last few months, I met you from time-to-time and (was) given assurances to get the party ticket for my son to contest from Bhadrak Lok Sabha (constituency) due to my old age, but unfortunately his name was deleted from the final candidate list. I came to personally meet you and waited for four hours at Naveen Niwas, but your power corridor never gave a chance to meet you," Sethi wrote in his resignation letter to Odisha Chief Minister and BJD leader Naveen Patnaik.

"I felt the BJD party has forgotten the ideology and ethics of Biju Babu. The BJD and you have made it abundantly clear that I am unwanted in the BJD and it was a great shock in this old age," he added.

Sethi's son Abhimanyu has also joined the BJP.

Odisha is set to go for simultaneous polls in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29. The state will be voting simultaneously for parliamentary and assembly constituencies.

There are 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in Odisha.