Bhubaneswar: Former Bhadrak MP Manjulata Mandal and her husband Muktikanta Mandal, a former MLA from Dhamnagar, along with their supporters joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha on Wednesday.

The Mandal couple had resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the main Opposition party in the state, on April 26 this year.

Prior to their resignation, the BJD had suspended the couple for their alleged involvement in anti-party activities.

The Mandal couple and their supporters joined the BJP in the presence of party’s Odisha unit president and Rajya Sabha MP Manmohan Samal and other senior leaders in the capital city.

Manjulata had been elected from the Bhadrak Lok Sabha seat on a BJD ticket in 2019 while Muktikanta, as a candidate of the regional party, had won the Dhamnagar Assembly segment in 2014.