TNI Bureau: Former Indian Hockey captain Prabodh Tirkey joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a function in Sonepur on Thursday. He had left the Congress party on April 20, 2024.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, state BJP President Manmohan Samal, Balangir MP Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayan Mishra, and others welcomed Tirkey to the saffron fold.

It is to be noted here that Prabodh Tirkey had begun his political journey by joining the Congress party on September 4, 2023. However, he left the party after it named freelance journalist Debendra Bhitria as his replacement for Talasara Assembly constituency in Sundargarh district.

The former hockey star had expressed shock over the grand old party dropping him as its nominee for Talasara constituency as he has been campaigning and meeting people in the constituency.