Bhubaneswar: Senior BJD leader and former minister Amar Prasad Satpathy on Monday said he is no more in Biju Janata Dal (BJD) amid internal tensions in the party that ruled Odisha for the last 24 years.
“I am no more in BJD, I am independent. I have not renewed my BJD membership and kept myself away from party programmes,” the former Barchana MLA said replying party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty’s statement who advised the senior leader to keep himself distant from making statements against party leadership.
Satpathy also said that he is not in active politics for last few months and national parties active in Odisha are in contact with him.
Internal conflicts have surfaced within the BJD as senior leaders have begun holding party president and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik accountable for the party’s crushing defeat to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Assembly election held earlier this year.
Amar Prasad Satpathy on Saturday directly blamed Patnaik for the party’s electoral setback, urging him to take responsibility for the failure.
Commenting on his statement, Mohanty said, “Amar Satpathy should resign from BJD if he feels suffocated”.
Speaking to reporters in Bhubaneswar, Satpathy on Saturday said, “We had imposed faith on our leader Naveen Patnaik, expecting him to shoulder the full responsibility. All the credit for continuous victories of the party was going to him; now, he must also accept the responsibility for its defeat”.
