Congress ex MP Bibhu Tarai joins BJP in Odisha

Former MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai, who quit the Congress on Wednesday, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday.

Tarai joined the BJP in the presence of party national Vice President Baijayant Panda and other senior leaders here.

Tarai is likely to get a BJP ticket to contest from the Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha constituency. He had won the seat in the 2009 elections as a Communist Party of India candidate.

The Congress party had nominated Tarai for the Tirtol Assembly constituency in the district. However, he was more interested in contesting from Jagatsinghpur.

The Congress has made a last minute change in the list of the candidates for one Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats in the state.

The party replaced Fakir Mohan Naik with Mohan Hembram for the Keonjhar parliamentary seat.

Telkoi Assembly candidate Mohan Hembram has been replaced by Prashant Dalei while Binod Nayak has been made the candidate from Patana Assembly seat in place of the previously announced Gopeswar Nayak.

Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29. Odisha has 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats. - IANS