Eight-Time MP Arjun Sethi Resigns From BJD

Bhubaneswar: Expressing displeasure over ticket distribution, senior BJD leader and sitting Bhadrak MP Arjun Charan Sethi on Saturday resigned from the primary membership of the party.

He sent his letter to the party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Talking to the mediapersons, Sethi said he had come to Naveen Niwas to meet the party president but was denied audience despite waiting for more than four hours.

“I have resigned from the primary member of BJD and the post of president of the Bhadrak district unit,” he added.

The eight-time MP alleged gross irregularities in distribution of party tickets.

Sethi said he had requested the party leadership to pick his son Abhimanyu as the party’s MP candidate from Bhadrak in his place to which he had agreed. “Now, the party has neither considered me nor my son for the seat. On the other hand, tickets have been given to those who are not eligible to contest the polls. I feel let down by the party,” he added.

Sethi had won the Bhadrak Lok Sabha seat twice as a Congress candidate in 1971 and 1980 and as a Janata Dal candidate in 1991. Later, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the same constituency in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 on BJD ticket.