Sujeet Kumar, who was expelled from Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday shortly after he resigned from the Rajya Sabha, has joined the BJP. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, MP Bhartruhari Mahatab, the party’s Odisha in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar and other senior leaders welcomed him to the BJP.

“I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders. It is a big decision for me to resign from the Rajya Sabha. Kalahandi, my native place, did not witness development during the BJD regime due to rampant corruption. Crores of rupees were looted in Kalahandi. Some BJD leaders, government officers and others were involved in financial irregularities. I raised my voice against corruption. I resigned from Rajya Sabha to protect the interest of Kalahandi,” Kumar told reporters in the national capital.

The BJD criticised Kumar for having “let down the party” that had sent him to the Rajya Sabha. BJD president and former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that Kumar had betrayed the aspirations of the people of Kalahandi.

In his resignation letter to Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Kumar explained that he made the decision “consciously.”

He said, “I take this opportunity to express my profuse gratitude to you for the opportunities provided to me to raise issues of public importance, and of my state Odisha, in the House.”

He also thanked Patnaik for sending him to the Rajya Sabha in April 2020.

However, Kumar claimed that he was “ignored and sidelined in the BJD”. “I was indirectly threatened to be removed from the party…It is ridiculous that I was expelled as I had resigned from the party before the BJD issued the expulsion order.”

This development follows the recent resignation of Kudumi community leader Mamata Mohanta from both the Rajya Sabha and the BJD. Mohanta was subsequently elected unopposed as a BJP MP to the Rajya Sabha.

With the resignation of Kumar and Mohanta, the strength of the BJD in the Rajya Sabha has come down to seven from nine. The party has no members in the Lok Sabha. However, the BJP’s numbers have gone up in the Upper House.