Berhampur: All the 11 councillors of the civic body would join the BJD in the presence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, sources said here on Thursday.

Former Union minister of state for rural development Chandrasekhar Sahu, Ganjam District Congress Committee president Bhagaban Gantayat, youth Congress leader Bikram Panda, Pradesh Congress Committee secretary T. Premanjali and many others are scheduled to join the BJD on April 4 at a function here.

The Congress councillors, who owe their allegiance to Sahu, too, will join the BJD separately with their supporters, said sources. Congress councillor B Srinivas Rao said: "We all have decided to join the BJD."

The 11 Congress councillors, who have decided to switch over to the BJD, are Anil Kumar Nayak , R. Murali Mohan, Ranjit Kumar Nayak, Dandapani Nayak, Lili Behera, Gita Madhoi, Sanjukta Patra, Priyanka Chowdhury, M. Minakshi, B. Srinivas Rao and Minati Kumari Bishoyi.

In the Berhampur Municipal Corporation poll in 2013, the Congress won 14 seats.

The BJP's Namitarani Panda had snatched ward No. 26 from the Congress in a by-election that was necessitated following the death of the sitting councillor.

Two Congress councillors Duyordhan Sahu and M. Jagannath Rao Achary had earlier joined the BJD. Congress councillor Prasant Kumar Patnaik has resigned from the Congress.

The BJD has 26 councillors in the 40-ward civic body, while the BJP has only two seats, including former mayor Shiba Shankar Das.