Bhubaneswar, March 28 -- Six-time MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who recently resigned from the primary membership of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday.Besides, former BJD MP Siddhant Mohapatra and noted litterateur Damayanti Besra also joined the BJP at party headquarters in Delhi.

Bhartruhari joined the saffron party formally at the party headquarters in New Delhi today. He had quit the ruling party in Odisha on March 22. At that time, speculation was rife that Mahatab would join the BJP.

The son of Odisha's former Chief Minister Harekrushna Mahtab, Bhartruhari has been representing the prestigious Cuttack Parliamentary seat since 1998. He had also been BJD's floor leader in Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019. He...