New Delhi: Signalling growing unease and unrest in the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) over the way the party is run by Naveen Patnaik and his close aide V.K. Pandian, Rajya Sabha MP Debashish Samantaray Monday resigned as convenor of BJD’s senior citizen cell and accused the party of “demeaning and humiliating” him.
In a stern letter to BJD president Naveen Patnaik, he questioned the party’s “new line of thought, ideology and action” that has allegedly deviated from the “Biju legacy” and hoped Patnaik will “thwart any attempt being made to weaken the party, almost as if, there is a design to it”.
Samantaray’s criticism comes over six months after the BJD’s decision to relegate 10 senior party leaders to the sidelines in the recent party reorganisation, by placing them “in the rank of” of senior vice presidents, vice presidents and senior general secretaries instead of giving them full charge.
An unheard of concept in the BJD’s or any other party’s structure, the post of “in the rank” was introduced after Patnaik was elected BJD president in April this year and started the process of appointing the new office bearers.
The move is being seen as an attempt to humiliate senior leaders, who have been questioning the way the party has been functioning following the drubbing in last year’s Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
It has fuelled further discontent in the BJD leadership and comes days after the party’s defeat in the Nuapada bypoll. BJP’s Jay Dholakia, a first timer, won the seat by over 1.23 lakh votes defeating Congress’ Ghasi Ram Majhi, who got 83,748 votes. BJD’s Snehangini Chhuria came a distant third.
ThePrint has reached out to BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty for a comment following Samantaray’s charges in the letter to Patnaik. This report will be updated if and when he responds.
‘In the rank’ controversy
In the party reorganisation in May, six of the ten leaders were appointed “in the rank” of senior vice president, two of them were appointed “in the rank” of vice president and two “in the rank” of senior general secretary. A majority of the ten leaders have been vocal in questioning Patnaik over the state of affairs in the party.
Two of the six leaders—six-term MLA and former Rajya Sabha MP A.U. Singh Deo and Rairakhol MLA and former RS MP Prasanna Acharya—who have been placed “in the rank” of senior vice-presidents, were earlier senior vice presidents in the party.
Calling the designation “demeaning and humiliating”, Samantaray wrote in his letter, “…I doubt that there is any place for loyalists of legendary Biju babu (former Odisha CM and Naveen Patnaik’s father) or your loyalists, who have stood like rock behind your long and illustrious political career… I feel rather disappointed despite my unflinching loyalty for you.”
A senior BJD leader, who has been sidelined, told ThePrint, “In-the rank is a very bureaucratic concept. It has never been there in a party structure. This has been introduced in BJD for the first time.”
The leader said that the decision to introduce the post of “in the rank” comes seven months after Samataray, once considered close to Patnaik, and several other senior BJD leaders who have been demoted, had questioned the party’s u-turn on the Wakf (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
While Patnaik had publicly announced that BJD was opposed to the Wakf (Amendment) law as it creates a sense of insecurity among the minority community, when it came up for voting in Rajya Sabha, party MP Sasmit Patra took to social media urging BJD MPs to “exercise their conscience” during voting.
While Samantaray abstained from voting, another BJD MP Muzibulla Khan voted against the bill. The remaining five—Sasmit Patra, Sulata Deo, Subhashish Khuntia, Manas Ranjan Mangaraj and Niranjan Bishi—voted in favour of the bill.
The BJD does not have a single MP in Lok Sabha but has seven MPs in Rajya Sabha. Since the bill’s passage in April, several senior BJD leaders have met Patnaik multiple times at his residence, expressing concerns over the party’s last-moment change in stance.
Samantaray in his letter said that “every BJD cadre and leader, whether they speak out or not, know the cause behind our defeat in 2024….”
Alleging that attempts were being made to weaken the BJD “almost as if, there is a design to it” the Rajya Sabha MP requested Patnaik to pay personal attention to tide over the present situation in the party.
“Strangely, the reason is on the lips of every worker and supporter of the party. Besides our desperate submissions, the party has struggled to accept the reality. Wins and losses are natural to elections. However, we lost despite a popular chief minister,” the Rajya Sabha MP wrote.
While BJD won 51 of the 147 assembly seats, BJP won 78 and formed the government under Mohan Charan Majhi. Post elections, three Independent MLAs joined BJP, taking its tally to 81. In the Lok Sabha, BJD’s humiliation was more stark. Of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, it could not win even one. The BJP won 20 seats while the Congress bagged one.
Samantaray told ThePrint that it was very clear that the decision to place him and five other leaders “in the rank” of senior vice-president was done at the behest of Pandian.
“He (Pandian) still holds sway in the party. All this is happening at his (Pandian’s) behest, despite the fact that our appointment letter has been signed by Naveen babu,” Samantaray said.
Pandian, a 2000-batch IAS officer and a former minister in the BJD government had served as private secretary to Patnaik for over two decades. He took voluntary retirement to join BJD in November 2023 but announced his withdrawal from politics after the party lost the 2024 elections. But senior leaders including Samantaray said that he has continued to interfere in party matters.
Pandian was not available for comment despite repeated attempts to reach him over his mobile phone.
The second leader quoted earlier said that since BJD’s drubbing in the elections last year, there has been no introspection within the party over the reasons for the defeat and what needs to be done to rejuvenate the party again. “The BJD cadre has become completely demotivated…. Corrective measures need to be taken urgently to revive BJD’s fortune,” the leader, who did not want to be named, said.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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