Bhubaneswar: Former Minister and Nimapara MLA Samir Ranjan Dash on Sunday resigned from the primary membership of BJD after being denied a ticket to fight assembly elections.
He sent his resignation letter to party president Naveen Patnaik.
“The leader of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has lost confidence on me and the party organisations in Gop and Nimapara. Hence, it will not be wise to stay in the party anymore. Therefore, I today resigned from the primary membership of the BJD. I sent my letter of resignation to party president Naveen Patnaik,” he said in a video message.
Dash had been elected to the State Assembly thrice consecutively in 2009, 2014, 2019. He had also served as the School and Mass Education Minister in the Naveen Patnaik’s Cabinet.
Recently, the legislator expressed his disappointment after the party denied him a ticket to contest the Assembly poll from Nimapara. The BJD allotted party ticket to Dilip Nayak who had recently switched from the BJP. Since then, Samir had been lobbying before the party forum for a change in decision. He had also organised several public meetings in a bid to show his strength in the constituency. However, all these things had little impact on the party and its leadership.
