Balasore: Ahead of the ensuing Rajya Sabha polls, senior BJD leader and former MP Rabindra Kumar Jena Tuesday resigned from the primary membership of the regional outfit.
Sources close to Jena said that he may join the saffron party in a day or two ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled March 16.
Jena, who was elected to Lok Sabha from Balasore in 2014, in a letter to BJD president Naveen Patnaik, said: “I have taken a hard decision to separate from the party in view of some personal reasons and prevailing situation. My resignation may be accepted forthwith.”
An able organiser, Jena had also worked as the Balasore district president of the BJD. He was defeated by BJP candidate Pratap Sarangi in the 2019 general elections in Balasore Lok Sabha seat and was denied a party ticket in 2024.
The party filed his wife, Subasini Jena, as the BJD candidate from the Basta assembly constituency in Balasore district in 2024, and she won the election.
Rabindra’s resignation at this juncture is politically significant as his wife, Subasini, is a voter as a BJD MLA in the ensuing Rajya Sabha elections.
Subasini had Monday given an unclear statement regarding her decision on the Rajya Sabha polls.
“I have not yet decided whom to vote in the Rajya Sabha polls,” she had said, keeping everybody guessing on whether she will cross-vote in favour of BJP-backed Independent candidate Dilip Ray.
BJD president Naveen Patnaik has fielded Datteswar Hota as a common candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections and appealed to all parties to support the eminent urologist.
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