Later than sooner, senior leaders Bijay Mohapatra and Dilip Ray, who share similar views in the State politics, finally quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday.
Besides, Ray also resigned as the MLA of Rourkela. Assembly Speaker Pradeep Kumar Amat accepted his resignation. Ray said he would not contest the next election from the Rourkela Assembly seat.
Mohapatra, who announced his and Ray’s resignation after a meeting between both earlier in the day, said the two leaders would decide on their future political course after 15 days. The decision would be taken after Ray’s return from a foreign visit that began shortly later on the day.
While Mohapatra had virtually been out the BJP as evident from his frequent utterances against the party, Ray had been protesting against the Central Government’s “neglect” in implementation of the Rourkela projects of construction of a second bridge over river Brahmani and upgrade of the IGH to a super-specialty hospital.
Mohapatra said at a Press conference that his decision of joining the BJP in 2009 was a wrong one.
In a resignation letter sent by Mohapatra and Ray to BJP national president Amit Shah, the two said that several leaders in the party have remained silent over various issues concerning the State fearing “denial of (party) tickets” to them to contest elections. Such silence is a bad sign for any democracy, Mohapatra and Ray remarked.
“The well-meaning suggestions by us to you were construed as a threat by certain egocentric self-serving individuals who resorted to dirty tricks; and a campaign was launched in our respective constituencies to try and deride us,” they said in the letter.
“As self-respecting politicians with decades of service to Odisha, we refuse to continue in the party as showpieces. For us, the interest of the State is supreme. We have never ever compromised our self-respect or the interest of the State for any post, power or ticket,” the duo added.
The BJP, in fact, suffered a setback due the resignation of the two leaders, particularly Ray who was a party strongman in Rourkela.