India, March 30 -- Six days after he quit the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), six-time Lok Sabha MP Bhartruhari Mahtab joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 28, saying that it relieved the unbearable pain that he had been living with. In an interview with HT, Mahtab, 67, who has been winning the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat in Odisha since 1998, spoke about his decision to snap ties with the BJD. Edited excerpts:

What were the main reasons for leaving the BJD?

The BJD has transformed while transforming the state. It's not the same BJD that we had formed in 1997. The party was formed against the Congress misrule, personal aggrandisement, corruption and misdemeanour in public life that happened between 1995 and 1999. The BJD was opposing it. ...