BHUBANESWAR: Veteran Odia film actor Aparajita Mohanty formally joined BJP on Monday. Mohanty joined the national party at the state headquarters here in the presence of union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other senior party leaders, when the political atmosphere across the state is quite hot for the Bijepur by-poll scheduled on Saturday.“The way Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team has been contributing for the growth and development of Odisha is really remarkable and impressive. I wanted to contribute in whatever possible way I could to the growth of Odisha,” said Mohanty after joining the saffron party. The popular actor and a household name in Odisha had contested Lok Sabha polls on Congress ticket from Cuttack in 2014.With the trend of actors jumping the political bandwagon continuing in the state, the coming general and state elections is likely to be a star war in Odisha. Mohanty is among the four leading film actors who joined BJP in the last one month. Mihir Das and Anu Chaudhury had joined the party on January 19 followed by veteran actor Mahasweta Ray coming to the saffron fold on February 11. Earlier actors like Pintu Nanda , Pinky Pradhan, Harihara Mohapatra, Sritam Das and Ajit Das had joined the national party.“Inspired by Narendra Modi’s policies people from all walks of life are joining BJP and so are the film actors. After joining the party the film actors are like any other members of the party. Because women are not feeling safe under the BJD rule in Odisha, more women are joining us including the film stars,” said BJP spokesperson Pitambar Acharya.The trend of movie stars joining political politics is not new in the state. Several veteran actors like Prashanta Nanda, Siddhanta Mahapatra, Anubhav Mohanty, Akash Das Nayak, Munna Khan, Arindam Das, Kuna Tripathy and superstar of yester year’s Uttam Mohanty (husband of Aparajita Mohanty) threw in their lot with the ruling BJD.“People have become very cautious these days. They are not going to be lured by film stars rather they will vote for the leader of the state. The film stars joining BJP may be experienced and popular actors but I don’t know whether they have any political commitment. They are neither part of the party cadre nor did they have idea about the ground reality,” said Prashanta Nanda. “We have more young actors,” he quipped.

Stay updated with all the Latest Bhubaneswar headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.