Bhubaneswar: The resignation of former Balasore MP Rabindra Jena from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has added fuel to the already intense political landscape in Odisha ahead of the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
In a resignation letter addressed to BJD president and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Jena on Tuesday attributed his decision to “personal reasons and circumstances”. He expressed deep appreciation for the party leadership and its workers, noting that his long association with the BJD would remain memorable.
Jena is likely to join the BJP on Wednesday.
According to sources, his exit could complicate the BJD’s calculations in the Odisha Assembly, where party arithmetic is crucial for the Upper House polls. His wife, sitting BJD MLA Subasini Jena from the Basta constituency in Balasore district, had indicated that she may not strictly adhere to party directives in the voting.
When queried about her stance, she remarked that “time will tell”, hinting at the possibility of cross-voting.
The entry of Dilip Ray into the fray as an Independent candidate with the backing of the ruling BJP, and his confidence of securing “conscience votes”, a term often used to justify cross-voting, has opened the pandora box for the BJD, with inner cracks reappearing amid its continued struggle to keep its flock together since 2024 elections debacle.
Considering the strength of the parties in the 147-member Odisha Assembly post 2024 elections, the ruling BJP with 79 MLAs and the support of three Independents, can comfortably secure two of the four seats. After securing those, it would have 22 surplus votes, eight short of the threshold needed for a third seat on its own. The BJD, with 48 MLAs following the suspension of two legislators, has enough to win exactly one seat for party president Naveen Patnaik’s political secretary, Santrupt Misra. With 18 surplus votes, the BJD was earlier hopeful that eminent urologist Dr Datteswar Hota, fielded a “common candidate”, could survive the electoral battle with the support of Congress and CPI(M) with 14 and 1 MLAs respectively
However, things seem to be slowly going south for the regional party.
If the two suspended BJD MLAs, Arabinda Mohapatra and Sanatan Mahakud, cast their votes for Ray, the former Union minister would then need only six additional first-preference votes to secure victory, a margin that appears well within reach given the considerable resources and influence at his disposal. Two more ‘disgruntled’ BJD legislators – Cuttack-Choudwar MLA Souvic Biswal, whose father and former MLA Pravat Biswal was recently expelled for publicly criticising the party’s leadership and questioning the selection of candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections, and Banki MLA Debi Ranjan Tripathy, son of former MLA Pravat Tripathy, may also flip, according to political analysts.
