New Delhi: In March 2002, former Biju Janata Dal leader Dilip Ray surprised many when he won as an Independent in the Rajya Sabha polls courtesy 15 BJD and 6 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members cross-voting for him. His victory had delivered a major blow to then Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Twenty-four years on, the hotelier-turned politician did it again earlier this week, thanks to the Congress and BJD cross-voting.
His victory as an Independent, political watchers say, highlights a “weakened BJD, once again”. They point out how Ray again dealt a blow to his old associate—Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik—after 24 years.
Once counted among the close confidants of Naveen, Ray essayed a key role in the formation of the BJD in 1997. Considered close to Naveen Patnaik’s father Biju Patnaik, BJD insiders said Ray took care of Biju Patnaik during the last few years of his life.
“During Biju Patnaik’s illness, he took care of him at his Delhi residence. In fact, Biju Patnaik died at his residence. He was someone Biju Patnaik trusted a lot. Within the state and amongst the Biju Patnaik loyalists, he is regarded highly,” said a senior BJD leader.
The former Union Minister had served two consecutive terms in the Rajya Sabha since 1996. After the party denied him a ticket to contest the Rajya Sabha polls in 2002, he filed his candidature as an Independent. The BJD then expelled him after he launched a ‘remove Naveen Patnaik’ campaign. But, he made a comeback with the BJP backing his RS candidature.
The founder and owner of the MAYFAIR Hotels & Resorts had a brief stint with the BJP too when he joined the party in 2009 and won the Rourkela assembly seat on a BJP ticket in 2014.
On Monday, he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin, Odisha Chief Minister Charan Majhi and others for their ‘support and confidence’.
“Deeply humbled and grateful. Today’s victory in the Rajya Sabha election from Odisha is not mine alone — it reflects the trust and goodwill shown by Hon’ble Members of the Legislative Assembly across political lines. I sincerely thank the Hon’ble Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party for their steadfast support. I am equally grateful to the MLAs from the BJD, Congress, and the Independents who chose to extend their support,” he wrote on X.
Deeply humbled and grateful.
Today’s victory in the Rajya Sabha election from Odisha is not mine alone — it reflects the trust and goodwill shown by Hon’ble Members of the Legislative Assembly across political lines.
I sincerely thank the Hon’ble Members of the Bharatiya Janata…
— Dilip ray (@DilipRayOdisha) March 16, 2026
While cross-voting from the ruling BJD helped the former Union Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2002, the help came from the Congress and the BJD this time.
In 2002, the Congress fielded Maurice Kujur, who eventually lost. Media reports at the time termed Ray’s victory a ‘big blow to Naveen Patnaik,’ who they said did everything possible to stall his candidature.
Also Read: ‘Traitors’: Congress expels 3 Odisha MLAs for ‘cross-voting’ in Rajya Sabha polls
The train ride
“When Naveen started to consolidate his position as BJD chief, he began to eliminate his potential rivals, and soon the axe fell on Dilip. Naveen got Vajpayee to drop him from the Union ministry. He managed to become an Independent Rajya Sabha member in 2002 thanks to some cross-voting,” said senior journalist Ruben Banerjee, who penned the book, ‘Naveen Patnaik’.
Starting his political career in 1985 as chairman of the then Rourkela Notified Council, Ray was elected MLA from Rourkela in 1985. He was re-elected in 1990 and also served as Industries Minister in the Biju Patnaik-led Janata Dal government between 1990 and 1995.
He then faced a setback when a CBI court convicted him in October, 2020, in a 1999 coal block allocation case when he was Minister of State for Coal in the Vajpayee government. He was handed three-year imprisonment, but the Delhi High Court suspended his conviction in April 2024.
“In fact, I remember he was put under surveillance by Naveen Patnaik ahead of the Rajya Sabha voting. He took a train from Bhubaneswar to Delhi, and the cops were keeping an eye on him. Soon after he boarded and the train departed, the police also left. The cops never thought that Dilip would pull a fast one on them—at the next station Cuttack, he got down from the railway track side and surreptitiously returned to Bhubaneshwar to manage the RS numbers,” Banerjee recounted.
“The 2026 Rajya Sabha elections are like a déjà vu moment. Apart from being a moneyed guy and a successful hotelier, he also has a high standing in Odisha because of what he did for Biju Patnaik, especially during his last days. He is otherwise a low-key person, speaks very little and no one really knows what he’s up to.”
In the coal allocation case, the CBI initially conducted a preliminary enquiry regarding the allocation of 105.153 hectares of non-nationalised, abandoned coal mining area in Jharkhand’s Giridih district.
Later, it charged Ray and five other accused under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and Section 420 (cheating) of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, and the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Ray had moved the Delhi High Court in 2024 seeking suspension of the conviction on the grounds of his willingness to contest the Odisha elections in 2024. His appeal against the conviction is still pending.
He told the court that he would “suffer irreversible and irreparable loss” in case of continued conviction. To be sure, a sentencing of two years or more bars a person from contesting elections at any level.
Though the sentence was suspended in April 2024, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed that the order would not amount to “acquittal” and was limited to “merely a suspension of conviction” because of “peculiar circumstances of the case, including the long political career of the accused and his age”.
S.N.Sahu, who served as Officer on Special Duty and Press Secretary to former President K.R.Narayanan, said there’s massive dissatisfaction against the BJP regime in Odisha, and, therefore, they want to create a public narrative by ensuring that the BJD’s candidate is defeated to show how Patnaik’s popularity is declining.
“Bhakta Charan Das, the Congress state chief, sought a meeting with Naveen Patnaik to discuss the common candidate even before the dates were announced. But Patnaik did not give him time, and Das requested him again to give him time within a week, but the time frame was over. He (Naveen Patnaik) unilaterally declared a doctor (Datteswar Hota) as the fourth common candidate. Then, he requested the Congress and the BJP to vote for him. It felt like an imposition by the BJD,” Sahu added.
“Dilip Ray was convicted in the coal scam, and his conviction has been suspended. It was expected that he may not get the Congress support. Ray’s comeback is a boost for his political career as well as to the BJP because it wants to prove a point that Patnaik will not succeed in the face of BJP’s election strategies. They want to prove a point that Patnaik may be popular and people may admire, respect, and adore him, but he can’t match its strategies.”
There’s massive dissatisfaction against the BJP regime, the former civil servant said, adding that it wants to create some kind of a situation and narrative by ensuring that BJD’s candidate is defeated and that Patnaik’s popularity is declining.
“Naveen Patnaik is still popular among the people, and these kinds of strategies being adopted by the BJP and the government have not caused any erosion of his image,” Sahu explained.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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