Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Rajya Sabha MP Debashish Samantaray joined the BJP on Tuesday in the presence of senior party leaders. He had resigned from the BJD on Monday. A long-time associate of BJD supremo and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Samantaray resigned from both the party and the Rajya Sabha on Monday, alleging that he was being "systematically belittled" in the organisation.
His exit comes months after two other BJD Rajya Sabha MPs -- Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mahanta -- quit the party. Both were later elected to the Rajya Sabha on BJP tickets. Hours after resigning from the party, Samantaray said he met Rajya Sabha chairman CP Radhakrishnan in Parliament and submitted his resignation from the Upper House.
Samantaray alleged that despite being a close associate of Patnaik for years, he was prevented from meeting the BJD chief and blamed former bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian for the party's defeat in the 2024 elections."There is no point in remaining in BJD when I am unable to meet my party president," he told reporters.
In his resignation letter to Patnaik, Samantaray said, "I do hereby resign from the primary membership of BJD. Of late, I felt I have been systematically belittled in the party and that it does not require my services. Therefore, I have taken this hard decision in public interest and request you to accept my resignation."
Samantaray's resignation comes months after two other Rajya Sabha MPs -- Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mahanta -- quit the party. Mahanta and Kumar were later elected to the Rajya Sabha on BJP tickets. A two-time MLA elected in 2009 and 2014, Samantaray expressed gratitude to Patnaik for nominating him to the Upper House of Parliament.
"I shall always be indebted to you for nominating me to Rajya Sabha. I take this opportunity to express my sincere and deepest gratitude to you for giving me the opportunity to serve the people of undivided Cuttack district and to raise issues concerning Odisha at the national level," he said in the letter.
Samantaray, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2024, had been a known critic of Pandian, who withdrew from active politics after the BJD's defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Odisha Assembly elections.
He had repeatedly alleged that despite announcing his "sanyas" from active politics, Pandian continued to influence the functioning of the regional party from behind the scenes. Earlier, Samantaray had resigned from the post of vice-president of the BJD senior citizens' cell in November 2025. At that time, he had voiced dissatisfaction with the party's functioning.
Meanwhile, rejecting suggestions that Samantaray's resignation was a setback to the party, the BJD claimed his exit would instead strengthen the organisation in Cuttack. "He left the party to protect his business interests. He was in politics to do business and not to serve the people," Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik said.
