Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) [India], March 28 : Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who announced his resignation from the primary membership of the BJD earlier this week, will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, sources said.
According to the sources, Mahtab may contest the Lok Sabha polls from Cuttack.
While announcing his resignation earlier, Mahtab, who has represented the Cuttack Lok Sabha constituency for six consecutive terms, stated, "I have sent my resignation letter to BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at 4 pm today.
The parliamentarian was awarded the 'Sansad Ratna' for four consecutive years from 2017 to 2020 for his outstanding performance in Parliament debates.
He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 from Cuttack. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014. He retained the seat for BJD in 2019.
In the recent past, several BJD leaders have quit the party for the BJP. Among those who resigned was a close relative of BJD organising secretary PP Das and popular Odia actor Arindam Roy who resigned last week and joined the BJP.
Another BJD senior tribal leader and former minister Balabhadra Majhi alleged that he was neglected and sidelined for the last five years and joined Congress.
Odisha has 21 parliamentary constituencies. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) got the maximum number of seats, followed by the BJP and the Congress. The BJD won 12 seats, the BJP finished a close second at 8 seats and the Congress bagged just a lone seat.
The state has 147 Assembly constituencies. In the last assembly polls, which were held simultaneously with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJD swept the state, winning 113 seats.
The BJP came a distant second at 23 seats, followed by the Congress with 9, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with 1, and an independent candidate with another seat.
Elections in Odisha span across four phases -- May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. Nomination filing dates vary per phase, with the last phase having nominations until May 14 and withdrawals by May 17.
Four Lok Sabha seats in the southern and western parts--Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Berhampur--and 28 assembly seats under these parliamentary segments will vote on May 13 during the fourth phase. In the subsequent phase on May 20, five Lok Sabha seats in western and interior pockets--Bargarh, Sundargarh, Balangir, Kandhamal and Aska--and 35 assembly constituencies will vote in Odisha.
Six Lok Sabha seats each and 42 assembly seats falling under the areas will vote in the sixth and seventh phases on May 25 and June 1. The parliamentary segments from Odisha that will vote in the sixth phase include Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar, mostly western, central and coastal regions, while Lok Sabha constituencies in northern and coastal pockets like Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur will vote in the seventh phase.