Bhubaneswar: The ruling BJD on Wednesday suspended high-profile Kendrapada MP Baijayant Panda from the primary membership of the party.
Food supplies minister and party vice president S N Patro announced that Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik had decided to suspend Baijayant Panda for “directly and indirectly indulging in activities aimed at weakening BJD, whether it is in the Parliament, state, constituency or media space — no opportunity was missed by Panda to criticize BJD and eulogise the opposition”.
Patro told a press conference that as IMFA’s vice-chairman, Panda has withdrawn an annual salary and allowances of Rs 1,45,27,747 in 2014 and that his company had received a huge loan waiver earlier which is still a matter of debate.
Odisha Bytes was the first to break the news that BJD was going to take disciplinary action against Baijayant Panda.
