India, March 11 -- A day after resigning from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), former Balasore MP Rabindra Kumar Jena formally joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha on Wednesday, along with his supporters, at the party's state headquarters in Bhubaneswar.

BJP's Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and other senior leaders were present at the event.

Jena had submitted his resignation from BJD's primary membership on Tuesday, citing "personal causes and circumstances" in his letter to party supremo Naveen Patnaik.

Jena's joining came a day before a scheduled CBI court hearing on March 12, in a case where the agency has filed a chargesheet against Jena for his alleged involvement in the Seashore chit fund scam in Odisha.

Jen...