BJD removes Soumya Ranjan Patnaik from party vice president post

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India]: Biju Janta Dal (BJD) on Tuesday removed senior leader and vice president of the party Soumya Ranjan Patnaik from his post.

The party has not cited any reason for removing him from the post. The official order from Biju Janta Dal stated that “Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Vice-President is hereby removed from the post  with immediate effect.”

The MLA from Khandapada and Editor of Odia Daily ‘Sambad’ has been facing severe criticism from party leaders for his alleged critical statements in the media and editorials questioning the public grievance program by the Chief Minister’s Private Secretary, VK Pandian and functioning of the Odisha Government.

Assembly Elections in Odisha are held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. The state has 147 Assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha seats on which state and Lok Sabha elections are conducted.

Soumya Ranjan Patnaik joined the Biju Janta Dal in March 2018 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Later, he contested the Assembly election in 2019 from Khandapada and won the seat.

Soumya Ranjan Patnaik is the founder and Editor of Odia daily ‘Sambad’.