Former BJD Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik joins BJP

In what may very well be seen as one other setback for the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)which confronted a stunning defeat final yr within the meeting electionsformer Rajya Sabha member Amar Patnaik — a distinguished face of the regional occasion — joined the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) on Monday (November 3, 2025).

Mr. Patnaik, who had taken voluntary retirement from the put up of Accountant Normal of Odisha earlier than coming into politics in 2018, served as a BJD Rajya Sabha MP from 2019 to 2024. He’s the third Rajya Sabha member from the regional occasion, after Mamata Mohanta and Sujeet Kumar, to change to the BJP since final yr.

“I’m impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dedication to nation-building. After retiring from authorities service, the regional occasion had given me a possibility to serve the State. However now I want to commit myself to nation-building, which is why I’ve joined a nationwide occasion just like the BJP,” stated Mr. Patnaik, explaining his choice to affix the saffron occasion.

“There are two nationwide events — the BJP and the Congress. I didn’t take a minute to resolve which one to affix. The BJP is the world’s largest political occasion, thriving on its ideology, imaginative and prescient for improvement, and management,” he added, describing the transfer as a turning level in his political profession.

Mr. Patnaik, a distinguished face of the regional occasion, had earlier headed the BJD’s IT cell, articulating and projecting the occasion’s place on the nationwide stage. He was additionally on the forefront of the BJD’s aggressive stance in opposition to each the BJP and the Congress.

Just some months in the past, Mr. Patnaik had led the BJD’s cost over alleged EVM discrepancies and different electoral irregularities through the 2024 elections. He had even said publicly that the occasion would transfer the Orissa Excessive Courtroom on the difficulty.

Reacting to his becoming a member of the BJP, the BJD on Monday stated the transfer would don’t have any impression and described it as yet one more instance of opportunistic politics.

“Get together president and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had given Mr. Amar Patnaik his political id by nominating him to the Rajya Sabha and entrusting him with a number of key tasks inside the occasion,” BJD leaders stated in a press release.

They added that Mr. Patnaik had performed a key function in making ready and presenting proof of the BJP’s alleged large-scale vote theft earlier than the Election Fee, and he ought to now make clear his stand on that challenge.

BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty additional stated that the BJP’s choice to induct Mr. Patnaik on the very day Naveen Patnaik was campaigning in Nuapada for the by-election uncovered the saffron occasion’s political motives. Nevertheless, the rousing reception in accordance with Naveen Patnaik by the individuals of Nuapada had punctured the BJP’s technique, he added.