Dilip Ray Unlikely To Return To BJD Soon

Bhubaneswar: Notwithstanding the hype over former Union minister Dilip Ray’s recent meeting with BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the former is unlikely to rejoin the regional party soon, sources said on Wednesday.

On March 16, Ray was seen at Naveen Niwas. This made tongues wag over the possibility of him rejoining the BJD, of which he was a founding member but had to leave it in 2002 following differences with Naveen, after 17 years.

However, sources said the deliberations have failed to yield the desired results for both sides and Ray, who resigned as Rourkela MLA and from the BJP on November 30, 2018 over Mahanadi water issue, unfulfilled promise of a second bridge over river Brahmani and super-speciality hospital at Rourkela, would not return to the BJD anytime soon.

The BJD has since renominated Sarada Prasad Nayak as the party candidate from Rourkela assembly constituency. In 2014 election, Ray defeated Nayak by a margin of 10,929 votes. He had also served as Rourkela MLA as a Janata Party candidate in 1985 and as a Janata Dal nominee in 1990.

Though BJD bosses and Ray are tight-lipped the developments, speculation has it that later wanted to reenter the BJD along with ex-minister and senior leader Bijay Mohapatra, who too quit BJP on November 30. However, the BJD leadership was not too keen to re-inducting Bijay. There is also talk that BJD wanted Ray to contest the parliamentary elections but the latter did not agree to it.

Ray’s meeting with Naveen came quick on the heels of former BJD leaders Baijayant Panda, Damodar Rout and Balabhadra Majhi (Nabarangpur MP) joining the BJP. According to political analysts, the regional party wanted to have Ray back in the party to offset the perception that the saffron party was attracting former BJD leaders and strengthening its base.