 "Charges false, baseless, says BJD MP Jay Panda after suspension from party")
Biju Janata Dal President and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik suspended Lok Sabha MP Baijayant "Jay" Panda from the primary membership of the party with immediate effect on Wednesday on grounds of 'anti-party activities '.
"After Baijayant Panda has been directly and indirectly indulging in activities aimed at weakening our party, whether it is the Parliament, State, constituency or media space- no opportunity was missed by him to criticise the BJD and eulogise the opposition. His claims of being a founder member of the BJD are totally false", vice-president of BJD, Surjya Narayana Patro said in a statement.
He added that Panda's conduct during the PRI elections during which he did not campaign for the party candidates even in his own constituency, was totally against the interests of the BJD and its functionaries who have been responsible for sending him to the Parliament four times.
However, Panda denied the allegations and called them "entirely false and baseless".
In May 2017, he was sacked from the post of BJD spokesperson after he criticised the party and had a Twitter spat with party colleague Tathagat Satpathy.