Bhubaneswar, Oct 11 (PTI) The BJD’s prospective candidate for the Nuapada assembly bypoll, Jay Dholakia, on Saturday joined the ruling BJP in Odisha, in a major setback for the Naveen Patnaik-led party.

He is the son of Rajendra Dholakia, the BJD MLA whose death necessitated the by-election in the seat.

Jay had claimed last week that he had received the “green signal” from Patnaik to contest the November 11 bypoll as the BJD candidate. Show Full Article

What proved even more embarrassing for the BJD was that he skipped the ‘Jan Sampark Padyatra’ in Nuapada, organised by the party to showcase him as its potential candidate, leaving senior leaders waiting for hours.

Instead, he appeared at the state BJP headquarters in Bhubaneswar, from where TV channels beamed live visuals of him joinin

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