 and got elected to Rajya Sabha on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket, on Saturday said “discontentment” was growing in the...){kind=link}
“I have no hesitation in saying that most of the BJD leaders and workers are dissatisfied with the autocratic functioning of the party. More than 80 per cent of the BJD workers in Mayurbhanj, my home district, are dissatisfied as they were not given any importance in the party. Many other leaders may leave the BJD in the near future, like me and Sujeet Kumar,” Mamata Mohanta said on Saturday.
“Whether I join or leave the party is a personal matter and I cannot say exactly how it will go. I had decided to leave the party more than a year and a half ago. Some of the founding members of BJD are no longer in the party. Others are making their way to the party. When the time comes, you will know everything,” he added.
Mohanta, who was elected to the Upper House of Parliament from Odisha on a BJD ticket in March 2020, was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha as a BJP member in less than a month after the party-switching act.
On Friday, another BJD Rajaya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar quit his membership of the Upper House and the party and joined the BJP.
Soon after joining the BJP, Sujeet Kumar made explosive comments saying that the BJD had lost internal democracy and that some leaders were running the organisation arbitrarily. He also levelled charges of corruption and bid-rigging against some of the party's influential leaders.
Sujeet also said that he would reveal the names of BJD leaders who are involved in large-scale corruption, nepotism and bid-rigging.
With the exit of the Rajya Sabha MP, the BJD's strength in the Upper House has come down to seven seats. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the regional party did not win any seat, while the BJP won 20 of the 21 seats. The Congress was content with just one seat.
Meanwhile, BJD leader Sulata Deo said the party would not be affected in any way by the exit of two Rajya Sabha members.
“Naveen Patnaik remains the most popular leader of Odisha. We will soon restructure our strategy and regain our past glory,” Deo said.
After 24 years of uninterrupted rule, the BJD government led by Naveen Patnaik was ousted from power earlier this year and the BJP formed the government in the state.