Odisha Channel Bureau
Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal MLA from Khandapada, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik was removed from the post of vice-president of the party with immediate effect on Tuesday.
“Shri Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, vice-president, Biju Janata Dal, is hereby removed from the post of vice-president with immediate effect,” said Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik in an office order.
The BJD president’s order, however, did not cite any reason for the removal of the MLA from the party post.
The Khandapada MLA, who is editor of Odia daily Sambad, had recently written editorial articles and given statements to the media with critical views on the party’s functioning and criticised the official visit of V.K. Pandian, Secretary to CM(5T), to different districts.
Several senior leaders of the BJD had accused the MLA of blackmailing the party during the past few days.
The MLA, son-in-law of former Chief Minister J.B. Patnaik, had joined the BJD in 2018 and become a Rajya Sabha Member. He had subsequently quit the Rajya Sabha post and successfully contested from Khandapada Assembly seat in 2019.
The Khandapada MLA started his political career with the Bharatiya Janata Party and later was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 on a Congress ticket.
Subsequently, he worked with the Nationalist Congress Party before returning to the Congress again.
Following his ouster from the Congress, he had floated Ama Odisha Party in 2013 which he merged with the BJD in 2018.
