New Delhi: The Congress Tuesday expelled its three MLAs in Odisha—Sofia Firdous, Ramesh Jena, and Dasarathi Gamango—for supporting the Rajya Sabha candidature of Dilip Ray, backed by the BJP, in the elections to the Upper House held Monday.
While the expulsion of MLAs for defying whip during Rajya Sabha polls is not uncommon, what has stood out in this case is the Congress labelling the legislators as “traitors”. Ray, a prominent businessman in Odisha with past ties with the BJD as well as the BJP, contested as an independent with tse BJP’s endorsement.
“Ramesh Jena, MLA of Sana Khemundi; Sofia Firdous, MLA of Barabati Cuttack; and Dasarathi Gamango, MLA of Mohana, have been expelled from the party for defying the party whip and voting for a candidate supported by the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election. Those who betray Congress are betraying the nation,” the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) announced in a statement.
On social media, the OPCC made a series of posts targeting the three MLAs who cross-voted.
One post on X said, “Opponents fight you from the outside; traitors weaken you from the inside. #Traitors of #Congress are #Traitors of #Nation”, while another went, “They crossed the line for power’s throne, But the people will mark the traitors known.”
Opponents fight you from the outside; traitors weaken you from the inside.#Traitors of #Congress are #Traitors of #Nation pic.twitter.com/vcjv5z7S1H
— Odisha Congress (@INCOdisha) March 16, 2026
OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das had warned Monday that the Congress would move to get the three MLAs disqualified under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution that outlines the provisions on disqualification on the ground of defection.
Earlier, the Congress had issued show-cause notices to the three MLAs after they made it evident, through their public statements criticising the party’s decision to join hands with the BJD, that they were going to cross-vote. Gamango even responded to the notice, asserting that party whips are not applicable during Rajya Sabha polls.
The decision of Firdous, the first Muslim woman MLA in Odisha who was once seen as a rising star of the Congress in state politics owing to her oratory and articulation skills, was also a foregone conclusion as her father—former MLA Mohammed Moquim—was expelled by the party in December last year,
The expulsion of Moquim, the founder and managing director of the Metro Group, a prominent real estate player in Odisha, had come within a week of him writing a letter to the Congress high command, flagging “wrong decisions and misguided leadership choices”, and batting for a more central role for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Of the four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha that were up for grabs in this round of elections, the BJP comfortably won two and the BJD one. Ray won the remaining one, dealing a blow to the BJD and Congress, which had jointly backed Datteswar Hota as their nominee.
Apart from three Congress MLAs, as many as eight BJD MLAs also cross-voted, despite party supremo Naveen Patnaik’s repeated appeals against any such move. Even in 2002, Ray, who served as a union minister in cabinets led by HD Devegowda, IK Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had won a Rajya Sabha nomination as an indepedent with the backing of BJD MLAs cross-voting for him.
He had then contested as an independent candidate after being suspended from the BJD, a party he had helped found alongside Biju Patnaik. Ray’s repeat of his 2002 feat has also dampened what was the first instance in 26 years of the BJD and Congress, longtime rivals in Odisha politics, coming together for a common cause.
(Edited by Shashank Kishan)
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