Former Paralakhemundi MLA K Narayan Rao and many cadre leaders of Gajapati district resigned from the primary membership of the BJD here on Tuesday.
Rao and his supporters resigned as he didn’t get the BJD ticket for the Paralakhemundi Assembly seat.
Earlier, Rao and about 3,000 supporters gathered at Ranipentha where they discussed about the ticket issue. Supporters lamented saying that the party has done injustice to Rao even though he served the party for many years and did many developmental activities in the State. They resolved support Rao for any decision he takes.
In the afternoon, Rao, Kashinagar block chairman CH Simadri, Goshani block Chairperson CH Tarekeshawari, three Zilla Parishad members, 30 Sarapanches and 32 Samiti members, Paralakhemundi town president Jamidar Patnaik, BYJD district president P Krishan and many others resigned from the party.
However, it was not clear whether Rao would switch over to any other party or fight the Assembly seat independently. He said he would take a decision in this regard soon.
It may be noted that Princess Kalyani Gajapati has been named for the seat in the BJD’s first set of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies.
While in the Congress, Rao was elected as Chairman of the Kashinagar block twice. Later, he joined the BJD in 2000. However, he fought the elections from the Assembly seat as Independent candidate in 2000 and 2004 as he was not given a party ticket. But in 2009, he won the seat on a BJD ticket.
In 2014, he lost the seat to the Congress candidate at a very low margin of votes.