BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced to have expelled two BJD MLAs — Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Sudhansu Sekhar Parida — from the party. A party statement later cited their involvement in anti-people activities as reasons behind the action.
The BJD said a media organization run by Soumya faces serious cases of organized bank fraud involving loans worth crores of rupees in the name of more than 300 employees. The economic offences wing (EOW) of Odisha Police has been investigating into the alleged loan fraud.
Soumya, a media baron who represents Khandapada in assembly, has been vocal against CM’s secretary VK Pandian over the past some weeks. Earlier on September 12, the BJD had removed Soumya from the post of party’s vice-president.
Parida, who is Remuna MLA, has been accused of misappropriating Rs 3 crore government subsidy meant for farmers between 2017 to 2020. The state vigilance has been probing the allegation.
Soumya had joined the BJD in 2018 after leading a regional outfit ‘Aama Odisha’ following his departure from the Congress in 2013. Soumya was earlier vice-president of state BJP from 1993-1995.
The BJD had earlier removed Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy citing the same ‘anti-people’ activities in Novenber 2020.
The BJD said a media organization run by Soumya faces serious cases of organized bank fraud involving loans worth crores of rupees in the name of more than 300 employees. The economic offences wing (EOW) of Odisha Police has been investigating into the alleged loan fraud.
Soumya, a media baron who represents Khandapada in assembly, has been vocal against CM’s secretary VK Pandian over the past some weeks. Earlier on September 12, the BJD had removed Soumya from the post of party’s vice-president.
Parida, who is Remuna MLA, has been accused of misappropriating Rs 3 crore government subsidy meant for farmers between 2017 to 2020. The state vigilance has been probing the allegation.
Soumya had joined the BJD in 2018 after leading a regional outfit ‘Aama Odisha’ following his departure from the Congress in 2013. Soumya was earlier vice-president of state BJP from 1993-1995.
The BJD had earlier removed Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy citing the same ‘anti-people’ activities in Novenber 2020.
