Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) vice-president and former minister Raghunath Mohanty resigned from the party Sunday and accused it of having deviated from the ideals of legendary leader Biju Patnaik.
This comes a day after he quit the post of the chairman of the Odisha Lift Irrigation Corporation. Mohanty has not hinted at joining any other party.
Alleging that BJD has deviated from Biju Patnaik’s ideals, he said it is now being run by a group having vested interests.
“Though I was one of the founding members of the BJD and served as a dedicated worker, the party leadership sidelined and ignored me and several other founding members. I felt that the party no more required my services. I felt hurt. Therefore, I decided to resign in order to keep self respect and pride of the people of Balasore intact,” he said addressing a press meet.
When specifically asked about the denial of election ticket to him, Mohanty said, “It is upto the Chief Minister to decide on ticket distribution. Who will fight the elections is totally upto him. I have not decided on joining any party yet. I have not decided if I will fight elections or not.”
He also said that he met the Chief Minister Saturday and handed over his resignation to him and explained him the reasons for quitting the party.
Besides being the chairman of the Odisha Lift Irrigation Corporation, Mohanty had served many posts under the BJD government. He had represented the Basta Assembly seat for five consecutive terms since 1990.
Mohanty was arrested in 2013 when his daughter-in-law filed a police complaint of dowry harassment against his son and family members. Following this, he was suspended from the party.
The BJD in 2018 again inducted Mohanty into the party and he was made the party vice-president.
PNN