Bhubaneswar, May 11 (IANS) A delegation of the main opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday met R.S. Gopalan, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Odisha, over the alleged illegal issuance of second ballot papers to BJP legislators and submitted a memorandum demanding the cancellation of two votes cast by the said MLAs during the recently held Rajya Sabha polls. The BJD delegation, led by Deputy Leader of the BJD Legislature Party Prasanna Acharya, claimed in the memorandum that second ballot…
Latest Sasmit Patra News & Updates
Bhubaneswar, May 6 (IANS) Odisha Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R.S. Gopalan is scheduled to meet a delegation of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on May 11 over the alleged illegal issuance of a second ballot paper to legislators, Upasana Mohapatra and Purna Chandra Sethy, during the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha held on March 16. As per the instructions of the BJD President Naveen Patnaik, senior party leader Sasmit Patra on April 28 submitted an urgent representation to the Election Commission of…
Bhubaneswar, April 21 (IANS) Senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra on Tuesday wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, flagging concerns over the deletion of a large number of voters during the ongoing preparatory exercise for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Odisha. In his letter, Patra said, “It has been widely reported, and administratively acknowledged, that approximately 9.8 lakh electors have been identified for potential…
Bhubaneswar, April 13 (IANS) Naveen Patnaik, President of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), on Monday appointed senior party MP Manas Ranjan Mangaraj as the Leader of the BJD in the Rajya Sabha.According to an official communication issued on Monday, the BJD supremo also appointed senior party leader and MP Sulata Deo as the Deputy Leader & Chief Whip of the BJD Parliamentary Party in the Upper House of the Parliament.The party stated that the reshuffle in its parliamentary leadership in the Rajya …
Bhubaneswar, April 9 (IANS) Senior BJD leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra on Thursday wrote to Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, urging him to revive the Bhubaneswar Metro project through a structured collaboration between the Union and the state government, on the lines of Jaipur Metro Phase-2 in Rajasthan. In a letter to CM on Thursday, Patra mentioned that the Union Cabinet on April 8 approved the Jaipur Metro Phase-2 (41 km; 13,000+ crore) project under the Metro Rail Policy, 201…
Bhubaneswar, April 9 (IANS) Senior Biju Janata Dal leader Dr Sasmit Patra has tendered his resignation from the post of Parliamentary Party leader of the BJD in the Rajya Sabha.The party supremo and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday accepted Patra’s resignation.“President Biju Janata Dal Shri. Naveen Patnaik has accepted the resignation of Dr Sasmit Patra, MP, as leader of the BJD parliamentary party, Rajya Sabha, today,” according to an official party statement.Sources also c…
Bhubaneswar, April 6 (IANS) Senior Sasmit Patra, a leader of the Biju Janata Dal and Rajya Sabha MP, on Monday wrote to Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal, seeking his immediate intervention to ensure that the proposed Metro Rail project, initiated during the previous government, is not scrapped by the state government. In his letter, Patra argued that the project envisioned during the previous Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government is a critical mass-transit backbone for th…
New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) A political controversy has erupted after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey made remarks about former Odisha Chief Minister, late Biju Patnaik, prompting BJD MP Sasmit Patra to resign from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT in protest. The row began after Dubey allegedly claimed that Biju Patnaik acted as a “link” between the US government, the CIA, and late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The remarks triggered strong reactions from the Biju Janata…
Bhubaneswar, March 30 (IANS) Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Odisha Assembly and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) President Naveen Patnaik on Monday strongly criticised BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, stating that he needs “mental doctor’s attention” for making outrageous remarks about his father and former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik.Speaking to media persons, the BJD supremo Patnaik said, “I was surprised to find the outrageous things that MP Shri Mr Dubey said about Biju Babu yesterday. I don’t t…
Bhubaneswar, March 29 (IANS) Senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra has tendered his resignation from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT, chaired by BJP leader Nishikant Dubey, over an alleged disrespectful statement made by Dubey against legendary leader Biju Patnaik recently. In a letter addressed to the Chairman of Rajya Sabha on Saturday, Patra earlier wrote, “In protest, and as a matter of principle, I am resigning from the Parliamen…