Suspended BJD MP Jay Panda Quits Party, Says He Was Physically Assaulted

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Member of Parliament Baijayant Jay Panda, who was at loggerheads with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has quit the party.

According to the reports, the leader, who was suspended from the party in January, said he has decided to quit with "deep anguish, hurt and sorrow".

In a letter addressed to Patnaik, he said that he was “heartbroken” to learn that the party had “restrained” members from attending the last rite of his father. Panda’s father, an industrialist who was close to Patnaik, had died on 21 May.

“I was heart-broken when several BJD colleagues conveyed that they had been restrained from coming by to pay their last respects to the departed soul. That the BJD doesn’t me anymore, and in fact wants me out, is now irrefutably clear. I have stoically borne many humiliations over the past four years, but this is the last straw, it is now beyond my self-respect to continue to be associated with the party in an atmosphere as mean minded as this,” the Kendrapada MP wrote.

"The BJD does not want me anymore, and in fact wants me out, is now irrefutably clear,” Panda noted in the letter.

Panda has also alleged mental and physical harassment. He has said he was "physically assaulted with stones, bricks and eggs” last May.

Earlier this month, a case was registered against Panda on the orders of the Kendrapada district court. Panda has been accused of filing a “false” affidavit.