Media Baron Soumya Ranjan Patnaik joins BJD

ONI Bureau:  The founder and editor of Odia daily ‘Sambad’ and president of Ama Odisha Party, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik today joined the BJD in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Naveen Niwas.

While speaking on joining of Soumya Patnaik, Naveen Patnaik said Soumya is a big asset to the party.

Speaking about the joining Soumya Patnaik said to media persons that 23 years back Biju Patnaik told him to join BJD, that he did today and his Aama Odisha Party will be merged with BJD later.

Earlier, the senior Congress leader and former MP Soumya Ranjan Patnaik was expelled from the party for ‘anti-party activities.’

Since then, despite electoral failures, he has been an active public figure and has made tireless efforts for Odisha’s development through his various awareness programmes.

In 1996, Soumya Patnaik was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from Bhubaneswar on Indian National Congress ticket.

During 2014, he floated his own party named Aama Odisha Party with the dictum “Maa, Matti O Matrubhasa”. He strongly believes that ‘Politics is to empower people’ and not for achieving individual milestones.

He is the head of Eastern Media Ltd, runs 24X7 News Channel ‘Kanak TV’ and a local FM ‘Radio Chocolate’. Besides, he owns ‘Manjari Movies’, an Odia movie producing house and Eastern Opera as well.

He also ventured in education sector by establishing an Engineering College — KMBB college of Engineering and Technology at Khurdha and a journalism and mass communication institution– SSOMAC (Sambad School of Media and Culture).