Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Shortly after joining the regional front on Wednesday, Bhrugu Baxipatra was chosen by the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as its candidate for the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat today. As the vice-president of the Odisha BJP, Baxipatra quit the party early in the morning, joined the BJD around midday, and was able to obtain a ticket in the evening. He will compete in the esteemed electoral war from the parliamentary segment of Berhampur.
Baxipatra was accepted in lieu of sitting MP Chandra Sekhar Sahu by the BJD, which named him as the head of its manifesto committee. It’s interesting to note that Sahu defeated the previous BJP leader in the 2019 election. Soon after he joined the party, there were rumors circulating that BJD will field Baxipatra from Berhampur. BJD leader Naveen Patnaik revealed the third list of Lok Sabha candidates, which featured Baxipatra’s name, just hours after he joined.
In the presence of MP Chandra Sekhar Sahu, a candidate Baxipatra had lost to in 2019, the seasoned leader had formally joined the BJD at the party’s headquarters, Sankha Bhawan, having resigned from the saffron party earlier in the day. After the BJP selected MLA Pradeep Panigrahy—who had been ousted by the BJD—for the Berhampur seat, Baxipatra made the decision to quit the party. Panigrahy and Baxipatra will now square off on the electoral arena.
