bhubaneswar former state works secretary nalini kant pradhan took plunge into politics on friday as he joined the ruling bjd in presence of party president and chief minister naveen patnaik at naveen niwasparty sources said pradhan is likely to be fielded as bjds lok sabha candidate from sambalpur parliamentary segment which is currently being held by bjds nagendra pradhanwelcoming him to the party the chief minister said his joining will strengthen bjd in the regionin his reaction pradhan said the simplicity discipline and progressive ideas of chief minister for development of odisha has inspired him to join bjdas an administrator i have worked under the chief minister after joining the party i can continue to serve people of our region said pradhana resident of athamallik area in angul district pradhan said though he has not received any indication from the leadership to fight the forthcoming polls he has evinced his interest to fight the poll if given a chanceafter serving as states work secretary for more than five years pradhan a 1980batch civil engineer resigned from service on february 27 nearly a month before completion of his oneyear extension period he got oneyear extension after retirement from service in march 2018by fielding pradhan from the seat the ruling dispensation plans to garner support of chasa community who has significant presence in four of the seven assembly seats under the sambalpur lok sabha segment more than 50 per cent population in athamallik chendipada rairakhol and deogarh assembly constituencies belong to chasa community with both the bjp and congress emerge stronger in sambalpur region the bjd plans to gain by roping in fresh noncontroversial and softspoken face like pradhandespite being considered as one of the confidant officers of the state government during his stint as states work secretary pradhan had received criticisms from political parties over a series of collapses of underconstruction bridges he also received flak over inordinate delay in implementation of bomikhal road overbridge and netaji subash chandra bose bridge connecting cuttack and bhubaneswarhis role was also equally crucial in successful completion of nearly 1km long gurupriya bridge in the maoistaffected malkangiri district that provided connectivity to 151 villages in the cutoff areas pradhan successfully implemented biju expressway rourkelabargarh stretch and successfully taken up several bridge projects over mahanadi in sambalpur and cuttack districtswhen contacted the sambalpur mp declined to comment anything on pradhans joining in the party