Bhubaneswar: While women are considered as ‘Vote Bank’ of Governing BJD, one after another woman leader is seen leaving the Regional Party.
Soon after denial of MLA ticket for the ensuing elections, two senior BJD women leaders including sitting MLA from Hindol, Simarani Nayak and former MLA of Sambalpur, Raseswari Panigrahi have resigned from the primary membership of the BJD.
Both women leaders have submitted their resignation letters to party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The BJD has fielded Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo from Hindol while Rohit Pujari is the BJD nominee for Sambalpur MLA seat.
In the resignation letter to Shri Patnaik, two-time MLA Simarani cited personal problems as the reason behind her decision to quit the party.
She also expressed her gratitude to the party supremo for giving her an opportunity to serve the people of Hindol Assembly constituency in Dhenkanal for 10 years.
“Thanks for giving me the extreme opportunity and the position in the party for the service of the people of Hindol. I have given my best efforts in a gentle way to serve the people for the last ten years. Due to my personal problem, I hereby resign from primary membership of the BJD,” she wrote to the BJD Chief.
Similarly, Ms. Panigrahi in her resignation letter said, “I hereby resign from the primary membership of Biju Janata Dal and all posts of the party assigned to me on April 23, 2024 forenoon.”
Speaking to media persons, the ex-MLA said a lot of developmental works were undertaken during her tenure as MLA from 2014 to 2019.
“Though I was not the MLA in the next term, I was involved in all kinds of development work and the organizational activities of the party. However, the decision taken by the party is an insult to Sambalpur,” she said.
Stating an outsider has been given a party ticket for Sambalpur, she termed it as an insult to the people of Sambalpur.
“Sambalpur is the epicenter of Western Odisha. It’s like the second capital of Odisha. They have given the candidature of Sambalpur to such a person whom they had earlier termed as ‘unworthy’. Didn’t we have leaders in Sambalpur? Why are we bringing leaders here from other places?” asked Ms.Panigrahi.