Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Rajya Sabha member Debashish Samantaray, a long-time loyalist of former chief minister and party supremo Naveen Patnaik, tendered his resignation from primary membership of the party on Monday.
“I shall always be indebted to you for nominating me to Rajya Sabha. I take this opportunity to express my sincere and deepest gratitude to you for giving me an opportunity to serve the people of undivided Cuttack district and to raise issues of Odisha at large, at the national level. I have always dedicated myself to the interest of the party and have, over the ,; years, worked for the party with utmost conviction and commitment. However, I feel that, of late, I have been systematically belittled in the party and that the party does not require my services. Therefore, I have taken this hard decision in the public interest and request you to accept my resignation,” he wrote in a letter to the BJD president.
Political circles had been abuzz with speculation that Samantaray may resign from the party and join the BJP. It intensified further after former BJD leader Sreemayee Mishra posted cryptic messages on social media that many interpreted as sharp criticism of the party’s current direction. In one widely discussed post, she referred to an “impostor” whose presence would lead to continued setbacks for BJD.
According to sources, Samantaray may join the BJP in presence of Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, who is travelling to Delhi, and other senior leaders of the party. He is also likely to be renominated to Rajya Sabha on BJP ticket, as was the case with Mamata Mohanta and Sujeet Kumar, who had resigned from their Rajya Sabha seats while serving as BJD members, joined the BJP, and were successfully re-elected to the Upper House on a BJP ticket
Notably, Samantaray, the two-time MLA from Barabati-Cuttack, had expressed dissatisfaction with recent developments in the BJD over the past several months. In November last year, he resigned from the post of vice-president of the BJD senior citizen’s cell, questioning the bureaucratic style of functioning and ideological drift in the party. He also abstained during the voting in Rajya Sabha while blaming former bureaucrat-turned-politician and Naveen’s close aide V K Pandian for the sudden change in party’s position on the Waqf Bill.
He was also allegedly sidelined in the party organisation in Cuttack.
