Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda Resigns From BJD

Bhubaneswar: Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda on Monday resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

Baijayant has sent his resignation letter to the party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. In the 3-page letter, he has also informed him about his resignation as the Member of Parliament. He said he would inform the Lok Sabha Speaker about his resignation as the BJD MP after the post-cremation rituals of his father, Bansidhar Panda.

Expressing his anguish over the hard-hearted attitude of his party colleagues towards him,  Baijayant said he decided not to continue as a member of the BJD since he was no more wanted by the party.

The MP also said he was deeply hurt as not a single leader of his party turned up for the last glimpse of his father, who breathed his last on May 22.

Asked about the allegations of Panda, BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra said the party supremo was the first person to express his condolence over the demise of Bansidhar Panda which has been carried in the print and electronic media.

On the resignation of the Kendrapara MP, Mishra said, his party is not willing to give its response at the moment as his father has expired. The party will have its comment after the 11^th day of the post-funeral rituals of his father.

The Kendrapada MP was suspended from the primary membership of the party on January 24 this year for anti-party activities.

Announcing his suspension, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister and party vice-president Surya Narayan Patro had said the Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik has decided to suspend Baijayant Panda for “directly and indirectly indulging in activities aimed at weakening BJD, whether it is in the Parliament, state, constituency or media space — no opportunity was missed by Panda to criticize BJD and eulogise the opposition”.