9 BJD councillors, led by Keonjhargarh municipality vice-chairman, resign

Keonjhar: Nine councillors, including vice-chairman of Keonjhargarh municipality Baroda Prasana Das, resigned from the primary membership of the BJD on Sunday because of alleged dissatisfaction with the party leaders.

Besides, Subhendra Pattnayk, along with Das and Sarat Kumar Sahu (councillor of Ward 1), have also resigned from the post of general secretaries.They sent their resignation letters to the party’s state president, with a copy marked to the district chief.Das said, “We were a non-Congress political party. The BJD aligned with the Congress in the Rajya Sabha elections. Now the ideology of the party has changed. It has become a private property.

Therefore, nine councillors, along with three district general secretaries, have given their resignations to the state president.”Das and Sahu, along with Abhinash Mishra (councillor of Ward 7), Dayanidhi Patra (Ward 8), Padmini Patra (Ward 10), Bhagwan Naik (Ward 15), Sabita Patnaik (Ward 16), Hemant Kumar Pati (Ward 21) and Karuna Kar Marandi (Ward 12) are likely to join the BJP on Monday at a programme in Bhubaneswar in the presence of CM Mohan Charan Majhi, one of their aides, said.

Ashish Chakraverty, BJD district president, said it may affect the party temporarily, but but will not have any long-term effect.In the Keonjhargarh municipality, the BJD had won 13 out of 21 wards in the last election, while the BJP was victorious in the last eight wards. BJP candidate Niku Sahu had won the post of chairman.Political analysts say that if Das, along with the others join the BJP, there is a possibility that the post of the vice-chairman will be retained.