Veteran tribal leader and Independent MLA from Birmitrapur George Tirkey on Wednesday joined the Congress in a development that is likely to boost the prospects of the party in Sundargarh, his home district, in the 2019 elections.
George, who was first elected to the Assembly from Birmitrapur in 1995 on a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) ticket, joined the Congress in New Delhi on Wednesday in the presence of AICC president Rahul Gandhi, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee chief Niranjan Patnaik and party’s Odisha affairs in charge Jitendra Singh. Mahanadi Bachao Andolan convenor Sudarshan Das and some of his followers also joined the Congress on the occasion.
Talking to newspersons after joining the Congress, George said he was happy to have got a strong platform to fight the “corrupt and inefficient Naveen Patnaik government on the one hand and the communal BJP on the other”.
OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik said George’s entry would further strengthen the party in the state.
Odisha Congress working president Pradeep Majhi also welcomed George into the party. “With him there, we have a strong prospective candidate for the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat,” said Majhi.
A former bank employee, George had won the Biramitrapur Assembly seat in 1995 and 2000 on JMM ticket. In 2002, he joined the BJD. But after being denied a ticket by the party in 2004, he had unsuccessfully contested the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat as an Independent. In 2009 and 2014, he was elected from Birmitrapur Assembly constituency as an Independent. One of the founder members of Samata Kranti Dal (SKD), a regional outfit that came into existence in 2013, George had returned to the JMM fold in December last year and was expected to contest the next election on its ticket.
However, while his sudden entry into the Congress comes as yet another proof that he has no qualms about changing loyalties, his turncoat image has in no way affected his popularity in Birmitrapur — the tribal dominated constituency in Sundargarh. Sources said George being a tribal and a Christian would make an ideal Lok Sabha candidate for the Congress in the district, which has a sizeable population of tribal Christians.