Baijayant J Panda. (Express file photo) Baijayant J Panda. (Express file photo)

Former Lok Sabha MP Baijayant Jay Panda has been appointed as the National Vice-President and Spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday. The former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader had joined the saffron party on Monday, almost after a year of being suspended for alleged anti-party activities, a charge which he has strongly denied.

According to an official statement released by the BJP, the appointment comes with immediate effect and has been approved by the party national president Amit Shah.

In a tweet just hours after the announcement, the leader thanked the party chief Amit Shah and expressed his happiness to work under the leadership of Narendra Modi for a ‘New India’.

I’m deeply grateful to @BJP4India President Shri @AmitShah Ji for appointing me Vice President & Spokesperson.

I seek support & cooperation of all colleagues.

I shall do my best towards the party’s continued success & work under @narendramodi Ji’s leadership for a new India🙏🙏 — Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) March 8, 2019

Panda’s induction to BJP — just months before the Lok Sabha elections — is touted as a move to give the party a major boost in Odisha. Recently, Panda had said that he was willing to join hands with anybody “committed to tackling the severe problems that Odisha now faces”.

Explained: What Jay Panda brings to BJP in Odisha

The former MP was openly critical of BJD and had called for some introspection after the party’s poor performance in the state panchayat polls, he had even called the in-party activities as “absolute depths of inhumanity”.

Panda got embroiled in a bitter tiff with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik last year after which he was suspended from BJD’s primary membership on charges of “anti-party activities”, a charge which he had strongly denied. He later tendered his resignation.

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