Former Keonjhar BJD MPs Yashwant Singh Laguri and his wife Sakuntala Laguri quit the BJD along with their supporters and joined the Congress at the Congress Bhawan here on Friday.
Both joined the Congress in the presence of party Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar and OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak.
While Yashwant was the MP in the 15th Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009, Sakuntala was in the 16th Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019.
Yashwant’s father Dhanurjaya Singh Laguri, also joined the Congress. Dhanurjaya was a two-time MLA of Champua constituency on a Congress ticket.
The former MPs in their reaction said they were influenced with the policies of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra. The BJD and the State Government are now in the clutches of non-Odias. They would fight for the interest of Congress in Odisha.
The Laguri family was traditionally supporters of the Congress; but in 2008, being influenced by Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, they had joined the BJD and Yashwant was given BJD ticket to contest from the Keonjhar Lok Sabha seat.
