BHUBANESWAR: Even as the political musical chair in Odisha has assumed breakneck speed in the run up to the polls, the ruling BJD on Thursday suffered yet another setback with sitting MLA from Athamallik Ramesh Chandra Sai and former deputy speaker Ram Chandra Panda leaving the regional outfit on Thursday.
Sai, who had won with a margin of over 47,000 votes in the 2019 election from the constituency, was replaced by former Works secretary Nalini Kanta Pradhan. Pradhan had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Sambalpur. In his resignation letter to the chief minister and party president Naveen Patnaik, Sai said he served the party for the last five years and wants to quit on personal ground. Sai is the second sitting MLA after Parshuram Dhada of Soro who resigned from the party after announcement of second phase of candidates by the regional outfit.
Panda’s resignation came a day after former BJP vice-president Bhrugu Baxipatra was given ticket for the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat hours after he quit the saffron party and joined BJD. Panda targeted the BJD leadership over the issue and stated that it was very disturbing that Baxipatra was given a ticket in this manner.
Panda had joined BJD in 2017 after resigning from BJP. The former deputy speaker alleged that the party had assured to field him from the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat, but it did not even consult him while inducting Baxipatra and nominating him from the seat.
In his resignation letter to the party supremo, Panda said he could not meet the chief minister even after trying for the last 15 days. Panda said he did not get any respect though he discharged all responsibilities given to him by the leadership. However, in the recent past he was being ignored from all organisational works in the party. He alleged that leaders who had come from the Congress have now taken the party in their control.
Besides Panda, T Gopi, another senior BJD leader also quit the party expressing his dissatisfaction over distribution of tickets. Similarly, Asit Patnaik, son of five-time Bhadrak MLA Jugal Kishore Patnaik resigned from the primary membership of the BJD on Thursday, putting an end to his 15-year-old association with the party. Patnaik was seeking a ticket from the Bhadrak Assembly seat.
“I have even sacrificed my political aspirations for the interest and growth of BJD. In 2019 elections, the party ignored me and fielded a new face in Bhadrak Assembly seat. Though it was an act of injustice since my father was the sitting MLA of Bhadrak, I did not raise any voice of dissent, being a loyal worker of BJD,” he wrote to the BJD president.
Asit, who is the former chairman of Odisha Pisciculture Development Corporation Limited, stated he will continue to work for the people of Bhadrak. After resigning from Congress, Jugal Patnaik had won the 2009 and 2014 elections from Bhadrak on a BJD ticket. The party, however, had replaced him with Sanjib Kumar Mallick in 2019. The party has nominated former minister Prafulla Samal from the seat. Ticket aspirants have also strongly reacted to the declaration of nominees at Jagatsinghpur, Phulbani, Ekamra-Bhubaneswar and other Assembly seats. Biranchi Narayan Mahasupakar, a senior corporator of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation announced on Thursday that he will enter the fray from Ekamra-Bhubaneswar seat as an Independent against senior minister Ashok Panda.
