Odisha MP Baijayant Jay Panda resigns from Lok Sabha two weeks after he quit BJD

Two weeks after he resigned from the Biju Janata Dal, Lok Sabha MP from Kendrapara, Baijayant Jay Panda on Tuesday tendered his resignation as a member of the Lok Sabha.

He was suspended from the BJD for ‘anti-party activities’ on January 24 and he had quit the party on May 28. Panda said he has sent his letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

“In letter to Naveen Patnaik on my intent to dissociate from BJD, I had said I would resign from LS after completion of rituals following my father’s death. The day after it ended, I sought to meet Speaker as per custom. It wasn’t possible and I understand she has gone abroad. So I’ve had it delivered,” Panda tweeted.

Panda, a member of Parliament from Odisha’s Kendrapara constituency, resigned from Lok Sabha when there is less than a year left in the Lok Sabha tenure. As per the rules, no bypolls are held to any parliamentary seat that falls vacant when there is less than a year left for general elections. The present Lok Sabha had held its first sitting on June 4, 2014 and bypolls can’t be held for any vacancy after June 3.

On May 28, in a three-page letter to chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Panda has said he was “hurt and unhappy” that BJD members did not attend the funeral of his father Dr Bansidhar Panda.

After Panda was suspended from the BJD on January 24 for indulging in “anti-party activities”, the party demanded his resignation from the Lok Sabha on moral grounds and alleged that the legislator concealed his position in a corporate house while filing affidavit during the 2014 general elections.

Last year, he was removed as the spokesperson of the parliamentary party.