Orissa chief minister and president of ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Naveen Patnaik today suspended his party MLA from Bari in Jajpur district, Debasish Nayak on the charges of anti-party activity.
Nayak, who served as the minister of information and public relation, sports and youth affairs earlier, had launched a vitriolic attack on the leadership of Naveen Patnaik in media interviews recently. This followed the tirade by another senior BJD leader and former agriculture minister Damodar Rout, who was dropped from the cabinet in the recent ministry reshuffle.
Nayak had accused the chief minister of not being democratic in his functioning and acting like a puppet in the hands of BJD Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra. He also called upon Patnaik to be answerable to the people of the state for the series of allegations of corruption in his government. It may be noted Nayak served as OSD (officer on special duty) to Patnaik before being elected to the assembly.