India, March 28 -- Six-time Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, former lawmaker and actor Sidhant Mohapatra and noted Santali writer Damayanti Beshra on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJD) triggering speculation that the party may field him in the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

"My decision to snap my umbilical cord with BJD may be harsh but it has given me immense relief. This is because I had been living with a kind of pain. When it became unbearable, I took the decision," said 67-year-old Bhartruhari, who was the BJD's floor leader in the Lok Sabha between 2014 and 2019, said at an event to join the BJP at the party headquarters.

Mahtab, 67, son of former Odisha chief minister Harekrushna Mahtab, ...