Will fight Elections, says Damodar Rout after expulsion from BJD

ONI Bureau: Hours after he was expelled from the Biju Janata Dal without being offered any specific reasons, former Minister and veteran leader Dr. Damodar Rout hit back saying he was punished for trying to expose the corrupt and asked why corruption is being tolerated in the party that was formed to carry forward the legacy of late Biju Patnaik.

Dama Rout also claimed that he came to know about his expulsion from TV reports. “It’s nothing new for me. I never felt I was in the party ever since I was sacked as a Minister and Vice President of BJD in December 2017,” he said.

Dr. Damodar Rout also hit back at BJD President Naveen Patnaik, asking whether the CM can claim that he is the President of BJD. “Which follower of Biju Babu is with him today,” he further asked.

“I am the disciple of Biju Patnaik. I will stick to his principles and ideology till my last breath. I will not join any other party. I will remain in public life and contest the elections. I don’t need a ticket,” he said. Dr. Rout later posted a series of messages on his Facebook page, taking a dig at the “Tamil Bureaucrat” saying he runs the show. He also asked why the party has no courage to probe the scams, and instead shooting the messenger.

“The people of Odisha will judge whether the questions raised by me were anti-party or anti-corruption. I will continue my crusade against corruption and expose everyone,” he said.

Meanwhile, former MP Baijayant Panda has tweeted in support of Dama Rout, “In the party of which I was a proud member from inception for nearly two decades, until a few short years ago when it lost its way…Used to be that whistle blowers were lionised & the corrupt dismissed, dropped, expelled…What happened that the exact opposite now prevails?”