Baijayant Panda resigns from Lok Sabha

ONI Bureau: Days after resigning from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda has formally sent a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker’s office, resigning from the Parliament.

In a tweet, Baijayant Panda revealed that as per his earlier decision, he wanted to meet Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and submit the resignation soon after completing all rituals of his late father Dr. Bansidhar Panda, but as she is abroad and not available for an one-on-one meeting, he decided to send his resignation letter to her office.

In letter to NaveenP on my intent to dissociate from BJD, I'd said on completion of my father's kriyas I'd resign from LS. The day after they ended, I sought to meet Hon' Speaker as per custom. It wasn't possible & i understand she's since gone abroad, so I've had it deliverd🙏🏼

— Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) June 12, 2018

Baijayant Panda, who had been a Rajya Sabha MP for two terms, had won from Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat in 2009 and 2014 on a BJD ticket. However, after falling out with the party leadership and a powerful group, he had been out of party affairs for more than a year.

When neither CM Naveen Patnaik nor any BJD leaders turned up to pay their last respects to his father late Bansidhar Panda, Baijayant Panda took the decision to sever all ties with the party of which he was a founder member. “It made me ashamed of being in BJD”, he told Arnab Goswami of Republic TV in a recent interview.

It’s not immediately known what would Jay Panda’s next course of action after his departure from BJD and resignation as a Lok Sabha MP.