Bhubaneswar: The suspended BJD MLAs are gradually stepping forward to publicly justify and defend their decision to cross-vote in the recent Rajya Sabha election for four seats from Odisha.
“…I have mentioned in the show cause notice the way my father was disrespected, expelled from the party without any reason…Even before the Rajya Sabha Elections, I had told the BJD supremo at Naveen Niwas that I would not vote for the BJD…” Choudwar-Cuttack MLA Souvic Biswal told the media.
He further stated that his father worked to strengthen the BJD but was unceremoniously dumped. “A son can never tolerate the humiliation of his father, who toiled for 18-19 hours daily for the party since 1997. I will abide by the decision my father will take on the future course of action,” he said.
Souvic added that he would have been far happier if the party had expelled him rather than just suspending him.
His father and former three-time MLA, Pravat Biswal, was on February 28, expelled from BJD after he publicly opposed the party leadership, specifically questioning the selection process and nomination of Santrupt Misra, political secretary to Naveen Patnaik and national spokesperson for BJD, as the party candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll.
While expressing resentment over the alleged ill-treatment of his father, Souvic had earlier confirmed that he voted against the party line and for the person he believed had the “blessings of Biju Babu”.
Earlier in the day, Basta MLA Subasini Jena and Baliguda MLA Chakramani Kanhar clarified that they had cast their first-preference vote for the official BJD candidate (Santrupt Misra) and second-preference vote to BJP-backed Independent candidate Dilip Ray to honour the legacy of Biju Patnaik instead of common Opposition candidate Dr Datteswar Hota.
“I voted according to my conscience while still abiding by the party’s decision by supporting its official candidate. No whip applies in Rajya Sabha elections, no one can be forced to vote for anyone. Yet, I gave one vote as directed by the party supremo,” Jena told reporters.
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Both MLAs stressed that they would continue to serve the people of their respective constituencies. “I have never betrayed the party and worked in accordance with its ideology and principles. I will continue to serve the people of the state,” Kanhar told reporters.
The suspension order, issued following show-cause notices on March 17 and unsatisfactory replies from the MLAs, cited a violation of the BJD Constitution’s emphasis on “absolute loyalty to the party’s collective decisions.” Besides Kanhar and Jena, the other suspended legislators are Naba Kishore Mallick (Jayadev), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol), and Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki). The BJD has indicated plans to pursue disqualification of these MLAs from the Odisha Assembly.
Ray, a former Union Minister, won as an Independent in the March 16 Rajya Sabha election courtesy cross-voting by BJD and Congress MLAs. He had sought votes by invoking the legacy of the former Odisha Chief Minister. He referred to him as his “mentor” and appealed to Biju loyalists across all parties to support him.
His victory delivered a major blow to BJD president Naveen Patnaik, who had expelled Ray from the party in 2002 after he decided to contest as an independent candidate after being denied ticket to contest the Rajya Sabha polls then. This was the third setback for Naveen after the debacle in 2024 elections, which ended his 24-year consecutive rule in Odisha, followed by the BJD’s humiliating defeat in the Nuapada Assembly by-election in November last year as the party failed to retain the seat.
