Less than two months after the Biju Janta Dal’s unprecedented rout in both assembly and Lok Sabha elections, the party suffered another setback on Wednesday as its Rajya Sabha member Mamata Mahanta resigned from the party and parliament.
Political circles assume this may help Bharatiya Janta Party’s state President Manmohan Samal’s entry into Rajya Sabha. Samal lost in his assembly seat though the BJP under his leadership came to power on its own for the first time in Odisha. If he had won, he could have been a claimant for the post of chief minister which went to Mohan Charan Majhi, a tribal.
Mahanta’s resignation has been accepted by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. Dhankar said Mahanta had personally handed over to him her resignation letter. “The same I find to be Constitutionally in order. I have accepted the resignation of Smt Mamata Mahanta, a member representing the state of Odisha, with immediate effect,” he said.
Mahanta, a prominent Kudumi community leader from Mayurbhanj district, also resigned from the primary membership of the BJD and she has sent her resignation letter to party president Naveen Patnaik.
Mahanta was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2020 and her term was to be over in 2026. He was a member of the Zilla Parishad earlier. Political circles say she may join the BJP and may be appointed the chairperson of the proposed North Odisha Development Council. CM Majhi had recently announced the formation of this council. The state already has such a council for western districts, which the the Congress government had formed in 1990s.
In her resignation letter to the BJD supremo, Mahanta said: “I feel that there is no requirement of the services of myself as well as my community in the BJD. Therefore I have taken this hard decision in public interest”.
The BJP, which has the majority, is most likely to win the Rajya Sabha byelection necessitated by Mahanta’s resignation. The saffron party has only one member in the upper house from Odisha—Railway Minister Aswini Vaishnaw who got elected twice with the BJD support. After Mahanta’s resignation, the BJD’s strength in Rajya Sabha will be reduced to eight. Odisha has 10 seats in the upper house.
Despite the shocking defeat in the parliament and assembly elections, the BJD has been trying to be an effective opposition by taking an aggressive anti-BJP position in assembly as well as in Rajya Sabha. The party has no member in Lok Sabha. But now, Mahanta’s sudden exit has left the party in a humiliating position.
The BJP and the BJD were at loggerheads during the budget session with Patnaik, who is the leader of the Opposition, criticising the budget placed by CM Majhi who also holds the finance portfolio. However, how the opposition party will handle issues in the assembly after Mahanta’s resignation remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Pramila Mallik, the chief whip of the BJD in the assembly, said Mahanta’s resignation is part of a national party’s conspiracy, an apparent reference to the BJP. She said it seems someone from that national party will go to Rajya Sabha in Mahanta’s place. Mallik said Mahanta had been sent to Rajya Sabha to give representation to the Mahanta community in parliament.
“So, there is no question of party’s neglect. She (Mahanta) has fallen to the national party’s conspiracy. Instead of serving people, the national party is trying to strengthen itself by breaking other parties,” Mallik said.
After the BJP came to power in the state, there has been talk of poaching on BJD MLAs by the saffron party. When the third Narendra Modi government was formed at the Centre, some media reports had included Manmohan Samal’s name in the proposed new cabinet. Since the Rajya Sabha election in the state is due in 2026, it was assumed that Samal might have to wait till that time and in between he might head state planning board. But the sudden turn of events changed the situation and if Samal goes to Rajya Sabha, the BJP may reward him with a berth in the Union cabinet.
