Hugulapata villager Naveen Swain, who had shot into limelight for hosting lunch for BJP president Amit Shah in his house last year, joined the BJD, causing embarrassment to the saffron party’s leadership.

Swain, who had received Rs 1 lakh from the BJP to repair his house, announced that he would return the money to the party. “It was a great mistake (to join the BJP),” said 39-year-old Swain, who had hoped to get his house repaired with the help of local BJP leaders.

Swain had become the centre of attention when Shah, accompanied by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Arun Singh, state unit president Basant Panda and legislative party leader K. V. Singh Deo, visited Swain’s Phailin-ravaged house and shared lunch with him on July 4 last year.

It was from Hugulipata village, Shah had announced his party’s “120-plus mission” (the BJP to capture 120 seats in the 147-member Assembly). Ganjam, the home district of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, is considered to be the BJD bastion as the party had been sweeping successive Assembly polls in the district.

Swain was among 200 others, led by the local sarpanch, who left the BJP and joined the BJD at a function in the presence of the Ganjam district BJD unit president Pradip Panigrahi. He said the state government had provided Swain a house under the Biju Pacca Ghar Yojana as he was a poor person and fulfilled all the criteria as its beneficiary. He has also been provided with a ration card.

Ganjam district unit BJP president Kanhu Charan Pati said Swain was never a BJP member. “We focused on Naveen Swain as he was a very poor person. His family lived in a narrow five-room house, which had been damaged during Phailin in 2013. There was no electricity in the house. He admitted that he had not received any help from the state government since the Phailin and considered Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a good leader,” said Pati.

“Where was the BJD government and its leaders when the BJP came forward to help Swain? If Swain returns Rs 1 lakh, we will distribute it among the poor,” said Pati.

“It is a master stroke of the BJD,” said political analyst Laxmikant Patnaik.