Bhubaneswar: In the midst of the election campaign for the Dhamnagar assembly by-poll, the ruling Biju Janata Dal Wednesday expelled former MLA Rajendra Das, from the party for “anti-party activities”.
Rajendra, who was elected to Assembly from Dhamnagar assembly segment as a BJD candidate in 2009, has gone against the party diktat and filed his nomination paper as an independent candidate for the November 3 by-poll.
Das filed his papers despite requests from the party to withdraw his nomination.
“Sri Rajendra Kumar Das, EX-MLA of Biju Janta Dal, Dhamnagar Assembly Constituency, District- Bhadrak has been expelled from the Party for his anti-party activities by Shri Naveen Patnaik, President, Biju Janata Dal,” the BJD announced through a statement.
Reacting to the announcement, an unfazed Das said he was not surprised by the BJD’s decision. “I welcome the decision as the people of Dhamnagar are with me. The action is a blessings for me,” he told reporters expressing confidence that he would win the by-polls.
After being denying a party ticket Das, BJD fielded Abaniti Das, a woman self help group activist and chairperson of the Tihidi block in Bhadrak district, as its candidate. Incidentally, Rajendra had made her the 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 hectic election campaign by all 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.