Senior leader of the Biju Janata Dal and Lok Sabha MP Baijayant Jai Panda on Monday announced that he was leaving the party and resigning from Parliament. Panda represented the Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency.
Panda has been regarded as the 'face of BJD' in Delhi, where he was a Rajya Sabha MP for several years before winning from Kendrapara for the first time in 2009. He was the spokesperson of the BJD's parliamentary party till he was removed last year for allegedly criticising the party's performance in panchayat polls in which the BJP made substantial gains. Supporters of the BJD criticised Panda for his alleged proximity to BJP leaders, whom he has often praised.
In his resignation letter to Odisha Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, Panda wrote he was quitting “the kind of politics to which BJD had descended.”
Panda expressed his disappointment at the fact that no major leader of the BJD, including Patnaik, had paid respects to his father, Bansidhar Panda, who died last week. His father was an associate of Naveen's father, Biju Patnaik. In a tweet from his personal account, Panda noted leaders of the BJP and Congress had paid respects to his father.
In the letter, Panda also reminded Patnaik about his commitment to the party and warnings that the party was deviating from its principles of “humility and transparency.”
However, shortly before the Twitter handle of his team released Panda's resignation letter, it also put out a tweet marking the birth anniversary of Hindutva icon Veer Savarkar. The tweet—in which the Twitter handles of the BJP, RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are tagged—praises Savarkar for his “nationalist and reformist convictions.”
While Panda has yet to comment on his political future after leaving the BJD, the tribute to Savarkar is likely to set off speculation on a possible move to the BJP. Panda will be closely watched as Odisha is scheduled to see both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls next year.
