Former Odisha MP-MLA Who Defeated Dhamendra Pradhan Quits BJP

Bhubaneswar: Former Deogarh MP and ex-MLA from Pallahara Rabi Narayan Pani resigned from the BJP on Friday, alleging neglect.

“Of late, I have understood that there is no place of ethics and principle in the present day of politics Any Tom, Dick, & Harry  is being given all sort of power and responsibility by you people by overlooking senior and sincere people like us who are forced
to sit idle like silent spectators,” he wrote in resignation letter to state BJP president Manmahon Samal.

The 73-year-old politician had won as an MP candidate from Deogarh on Janata Dal ticket in 1989 elections. After several years, the BJD fielded him from Pallahara assembly constituency in 2009 elections when he defeated Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

He was appointed the chief whip of BJD but later sideline in the party, following which, he joined the BJP in April 2019.

Notably, Dharmendra is the BJP MP candidate from Sambalpur constituency in the upcoming elections. The party has renominated Ashok Mohanty from Pallahara assembly seat, which he had lost to BJD’s Mukesh Pal in 2019.