BJD SUSPENDS BAIJAYANT PANDA OVER ANTIPARTY ACTIVITIES

BHUBANESWAR: Seven months after removing MP Baijayant Jay Panda as spokesperson of the parliamentary party, Odisha chief minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday suspended him from primary membership of the party for “antiparty activities”.

The articulate and mediasavvy MP has increasingly been isolated ever since he called for ‘introspection’ within the party following the emergence of the BJP as the principal opposition in the panchayat elections held in February.

Panda, who has a big following of social media, has been a source of discomfort for the BJD as he would praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi while questioning Patnaik’s working style.

Party vice-president Surjya Narayan Patro said Panda has been directly and indirectly indulging in activities aimed at weakening the BJD, whether in Parliament, state, constituency or media space — he missed “no opportunity to criticise BJD and eulogise the opposition”.

“His claim of being a BJD founding member is totally false. Panda’s conduct during the Panchayati Raj election, in which he did not campaign for party candidates even in his own constituency and instead indulged in antiparty activities supporting opposition candidates, was against the interests of the party and its functionaries,” said Patro.

Reacting to the disciplinary action, Panda tweeted: “@Naveen_odisha didn’t see through the conspiracy agnst me led by an IAS ofcr now controlling the party. I vehemently deny the allegations agnst me, they are entirely false and baseless. I will pray to Jagannath for guidance before I respond further.”

The action against Panda came after Patnaik last week asked two of senior party leaders to probe the allegations of the MP disregarding party workers.