Bhubaneswar: Adopting a tough stance, the BJD on Saturday suspended six MLAs from the party for alleged anti-party activities.
The suspended MLAs are Chakramani Kanhar, Naba Kishore Mallick, Souvik Biswal, Subasini Jena, Ramakanta Bhoi, and Devi Ranjan Tripathy.
In an official order, the party said that the suspended MLAs violated the core principles of the BJD Constitution by cross-voting in the recent Rajya Sabha elections.
The decision to suspend the MLAs was taken during the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting, which was also attended by BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik.
After the suspension of six MLAs, the BJD’s strength has come down to 42 in the 147-member Assembly.
During the PAC meeting, Patnaik advised everyone to strengthen the party at the grassroots level and to raise their voice to address the issues faced by the people of Odisha.
Meanwhile, the BJD strongly criticised Prabhat Biswal, who has been embroiled in corruption cases, including chit fund scams, stating that his remarks on the party’s principles and ethics are nothing but a rant from a mad person.
The party alleged that he betrayed Patnaik by involving his son, Souvik Biswal, in horse-trading during the Rajya Sabha elections and amassing crores of rupees. It asserted that the people of Cuttack will never forgive him.
Addressing a press conference held at Shankha Bhawan, the party’s senior General Secretary Lekha Samantsinghar said that Prabhat Biswal was involved in a tube well installation scam during the tenure of the then Congress government in 1995 and had misappropriated crores of rupees.
