Expelled For Anti-Party Activities, Ex MP Of Naveen Patnaik's BJD Joins BJP

The BJD on Friday expelled its Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar for "anti-party activities", soon after he tendered his resignation from the Upper House of Parliament.

Mr Kumar joined the BJP in Delhi in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, MP Bhartruhari Mahatab, the party's Odisha in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar and other senior leaders.

The opposition BJD said Mr Kumar has "let down the party" which sent him to the Rajya Sabha.

In an order, BJD president and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik said that Mr Kumar has also let the aspirations of the people of Kalahandi down.

"I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders. It is a big decision for me to resign from the Rajya Sabha. Kalahandi, my native place, did not witness development during the BJD regime due to rampant corruption.

"Crores of rupees were looted in Kalahandi. Some BJD leaders, government officers and others were involved in financial irregularities. I raised my voice against corruption. I resigned from Rajya Sabha to protect the interest of Kalahandi," Mr Kumar told reporters after joining the saffron camp in the national capital.

In his resignation letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman, Mr Kumar said he took the decision "consciously".

"I take this opportunity to express my profuse gratitude to you for the opportunities provided to me to raise issues of public importance, and of my state Odisha, in the House," Mr Kumar said in the resignation letter.

He thanked Mr Patnaik for sending him to the Rajya Sabha.

Mr Kumar, once a close confidant of BJD leader V K Pandian, was elected to the Upper House of Parliament in April 2020.

He also claimed, "I was ignored and sidelined in the BJD. I was indirectly threatened to be removed from the party...It is ridiculous that I was expelled as I had resigned from the party before the BJD issued the expulsion order." This comes a month after Kudumi community leader Mamata Mohanta resigned from the Rajya Sabha and the BJD. She was recently elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament as a BJP MP.

With the resignation of Mr Kumar and Ms Mohanta, the strength of the BJD in the Rajya Sabha has come down to seven from nine. The party has no members in the Lok Sabha.

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