GG News Bureau
Bhubaneswar, 19th Oct. In the midst of the Dhamnagar assembly by-election campaign, the ruling Biju Janata Dal expelled former MLA Rajendra Das from the party on Wednesday for “anti-party activities.”
Rajendra, who was elected to the Assembly as a BJD candidate from the Dhamnagar assembly segment in 2009, has defied the party’s directive and filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate for the November 3 by-election.
Despite requests from the party to withdraw his nomination, Das filed his papers.
Sri Rajendra Kumar Das, EX-MLA of Biju Janata Dal, Dhamnagar Assembly Constituency, District-Bhadrak, has been expelled from the party for anti-party activities, according to a statement issued by Shri Naveen Patnaik, President, Biju Janata Dal.
An unfazed Das responded to the announcement by saying he was not surprised by the BJD’s decision. I am pleased with the decision because the people of Dhamnagar support me. The action is a blessing for me, he told reporters, confident that he would win the by-elections.
Following the denial of a party ticket to Das, the BJD nominated Abaniti Das, a woman self-help group activist and chairperson of the Tihidi block in Bhadrak district, as its candidate. Rajendra had appointed her as chairperson of the Tihidi block.
Though Rajendra was a strong contender for the BJD ticket having lost the 2019 election to BC Sethi of BJP, whose demise necessitated the by-election, the regional party fielded Abanti Das to counter the sympathy wave in favour of the BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj. The BJP has fielded Suraj, the son of ex-MLA Sethi, who passed away on September 19, 2022.
Rajendra’s decision to contest the by-poll after denial of the party ticket, has come as a shock for the ruling party as it won all the five by-elections held in the state since 2019 general elections for the State Assembly.
Party insiders said that Rajendra Das’s candidature will certainly spilt BJD votes in Dhamnagar by-polls as he was nurturing the constituency for a long time.
Meanwhile, the Dhamnagar assembly segment, which is located barely 10 kilometers from the district headquarters town of Bhadrak, has been witnessing a hectic election campaign by all the three major political parties – BJD, Congress and BJP.
While several MLAs and Ministers are engaged in the campaign for BJD’s Abanti Das, the opposition BJP has also deployed its MLAs, Union Ministers and senior leaders to seek votes for its candidate Suraj.
Senior Congress leaders including MLAs from the state were also campaigning for grand old party’s nominee Bara Harekrushna Sethi.
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