India, Nov. 3 -- Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday-a defection that laid bare the deepening crisis within Odisha's once-dominant regional force.

Patnaik's induction at the BJP state headquarters came even as BJD chief and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik was addressing a meeting in Nuapada ahead of the assembly bypoll on November 11.

Amar Patnaik, the former accountant general of Odisha, who had joined the BJD in August 2018 and served as Rajya Sabha MP from 2019 to 2024, was once entrusted with heading the party's IT Cell.

After joining the BJP at a function in the party's state office in Bhubaneswar, Patnaik described the move as a life-changing moment in hi...