Bhubaneswar, 25/11: In a major political developments, Rajya Sabha MP and senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Debashish Samantaray has resigned from the post assigned to him in the party’s latest restructuring, triggering internal debate within Odisha’s main opposition outfit.
Debashis Samantaray, who was recently named “Vice President of Senior Citizens Cell,” conveyed his decision through a detailed letter addressed to BJD President and Leader of the Opposition, Naveen Patnaik.
In the letter, Samantaray said he found the title unclear, hierarchical and disrespectful. “I fail to understand what ‘in the rank of vice president’ really means. Besides sounding bureaucratic, such a designation is demeaning and humiliating,” he wrote.
Without directly naming individuals, Samantaray expressed concern that long-time loyalists of the late Biju Patnaik and Naveen Patnaik were being sidelined within the party. He suggested that a new ideological line had emerged that deviates from the founding values of BJD.
