The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Tuesday removed Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik from the post of party vice-president. An office order of the BJD signed by party supremo Naveen Patnaik was issued in this regard.
Soumya Patnaik has been criticising the State Government, its policies and style of functioning and also of the BJD through his newspaper articles and media statements.
Senior BJD leaders like Arun Sahoo, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Pratap Deb and Amar Patnaik reacted to all his statements and appealed to him to quit the party. However, the MLA did not agree to it and said he would continue to remain in the party.
So, finally, the BJD supremo removed him from the VP position in the party. Now, he can continue as a primary member of the BJD, party sources said.
In March 2018, Patnaik had joined the BJD and was soon sent to Rajya Sabha by the party. Later, during the last Assembly election, Patnaik resigned from the RS and decided to fight the Assembly poll from the Khandapada seat. For the first time, he was elected to the Assembly in 2019.
Soumya, who is the son-in-law of former CM JB Patnaik and younger brother of former State Congress president Niranjan Patnaik, had earlier served in the BJP and the Congress. He had also floated his own political outfit Ama Odisha but could not succeed.