Ex-Odisha cadre IAS officer joins BJP

NEW DELHI: Former Odisha cadre IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi joined the ruling BJP at the residence of party chief Amit Shah here on Tuesday.nnUnion minister Dharmendra Pradhan, a native of Odisha, was also present on the occasion.nnSarangi, a 1994-batch IAS officer, recently opted for voluntary retirement. She was working as the joint secretary of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) under the Ministry of Rural Development.nnBharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Odisha unit chief Basant Panda handed over the membership slip to Sarangi in the presence of Shah and Pradhan.nnSarangi became quite popular in Bhubaneswar during her tenure as the commissioner of the city’s municipal corporation.