Another BJD MP quits party amid turmoil, buzz grows over BJP switch
BJD Rajya Sabha MP Debashish Samantaray resigned from the party, saying he felt belittled over time. His exit adds to the party's post-election turmoil as speculation grows over a possible move to the BJP.
Senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member Debashish Samantaray, an MP representing Odisha in the Rajya Sabha and a close aide of Naveen Patnaik, resigned from the party on Monday. In a letter to Patnaik, the BJD supremo and founding member, Samantaray, said that he felt ‘belittled’ over time and, as a result, was quitting the party.
Samantaray became the third BJD Rajya Sabha member after Mamata Mahanta and Sujeet Kumar to leave the party. Speculations are flaring up that the veteran MP might join the BJP in the near future.
“I have always dedicated myself to the interest of the party and have, over the years, worked for the party with utmost conviction and commitment. However, I feel that, of late, I have been systematically belittled in the party and that the party does not require my services. Therefore, I have taken this hard decision in the public interest and request you to accept my resignation,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
The development came as a major setback to the BJD, which has been struggling with internal rift and rising factionalism, since the abysmal defeat in the 2024 state assembly election. A year after its defeat, several senior leaders, including former Rajya Sabha MP Nekkanti Bhaskar Rao, former Minister Lal Bihari Himirika, four-time legislator and party veteran Prafulla Kumar Mallik, and the youth leader Hari Shankar Rout, stepped down from the party, pointing fingers at the mismanagement in running the party operations.
Besides, the latest resignation would also provide a big blow as Samantaray was considered a figure close to Naveen Patnaik. It was Patnaik who decided to send Samanataray to the Rajya Sabha. The MP has acknowledged that in his resignation letter.
“I shall always be indebted to you for nominating me to Rajya Sabha. I take this opportunity to express my sincere and deepest gratitude to you for giving me an opportunity to serve the people of the undivided Cuttack district and to raise issues of Odisha at large, at the national level,” Smantaray wrote.
WHO IS DEBASHISH SAMANTARAY
Son of Nityananda Samantaray, a former Congress MLA, Debashish stepped into active electoral politics after he was elected from the Tritol assembly in the Odisha assembly election in 2000.
His success in electoral politics continued as the veteran leader was elected from the Barabati-Cuttack constituency in both the 2009 and 2014 assembly elections. However, he suffered a major blow in the 2019 election, when Congress’s Mohammed Moquim defeated him by a margin of 3,827 votes in the seat.
In 2024, he was nominated for the Rajya Sabha by Naveen Patnaik.
SAMANTARAY TO JOIN BJP? SPECULATION FLARE UP
After he resigned from the BJD, multiple regional media reports cited that he might join the ruling BJP.
Although no concrete talks between the two have come to light yet.
Since Samantaray’s Rajya Sabha tenure extends until 2030, his potential induction into the BJP would significantly bolster the party’s strength and positioning in the Upper House of the Indian Parliament.
Senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member Debashish Samantaray, an MP representing Odisha in the Rajya Sabha and a close aide of Naveen Patnaik, resigned from the party on Monday. In a letter to Patnaik, the BJD supremo and founding member, Samantaray, said that he felt ‘belittled’ over time and, as a result, was quitting the party.
Samantaray became the third BJD Rajya Sabha member after Mamata Mahanta and Sujeet Kumar to leave the party. Speculations are flaring up that the veteran MP might join the BJP in the near future.
“I have always dedicated myself to the interest of the party and have, over the years, worked for the party with utmost conviction and commitment. However, I feel that, of late, I have been systematically belittled in the party and that the party does not require my services. Therefore, I have taken this hard decision in the public interest and request you to accept my resignation,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
The development came as a major setback to the BJD, which has been struggling with internal rift and rising factionalism, since the abysmal defeat in the 2024 state assembly election. A year after its defeat, several senior leaders, including former Rajya Sabha MP Nekkanti Bhaskar Rao, former Minister Lal Bihari Himirika, four-time legislator and party veteran Prafulla Kumar Mallik, and the youth leader Hari Shankar Rout, stepped down from the party, pointing fingers at the mismanagement in running the party operations.
Besides, the latest resignation would also provide a big blow as Samantaray was considered a figure close to Naveen Patnaik. It was Patnaik who decided to send Samanataray to the Rajya Sabha. The MP has acknowledged that in his resignation letter.
“I shall always be indebted to you for nominating me to Rajya Sabha. I take this opportunity to express my sincere and deepest gratitude to you for giving me an opportunity to serve the people of the undivided Cuttack district and to raise issues of Odisha at large, at the national level,” Smantaray wrote.
WHO IS DEBASHISH SAMANTARAY
Son of Nityananda Samantaray, a former Congress MLA, Debashish stepped into active electoral politics after he was elected from the Tritol assembly in the Odisha assembly election in 2000.
His success in electoral politics continued as the veteran leader was elected from the Barabati-Cuttack constituency in both the 2009 and 2014 assembly elections. However, he suffered a major blow in the 2019 election, when Congress’s Mohammed Moquim defeated him by a margin of 3,827 votes in the seat.
In 2024, he was nominated for the Rajya Sabha by Naveen Patnaik.
SAMANTARAY TO JOIN BJP? SPECULATION FLARE UP
After he resigned from the BJD, multiple regional media reports cited that he might join the ruling BJP.
Although no concrete talks between the two have come to light yet.
Since Samantaray’s Rajya Sabha tenure extends until 2030, his potential induction into the BJP would significantly bolster the party’s strength and positioning in the Upper House of the Indian Parliament.
