BJD not to support no-trust motion against Dhankhar: Odisha MP
Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the main Opposition party in Odisha, will not support the no-confidence motion against Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, revealed the regional party MP Niranjan Bishi today.
The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD had not signed the petition against the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
‘The BJD is supporting the Rajya Sabha Chairman. We have not signed the petition against him. Our party supremo has not asked us to support the no-confidence motion against the Rajya Sabha Chairman,’ said Bishi.
Earlier, five-time former Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik had stated that his party was examining the no-confidence motion moved against the Rajya Sabha Chairman and it would take appropriate steps in this regard.
It is worth mentioning here that the BJD has seven MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
The BJD originally had nine MPs in the Rajya Sabha at the time of its defeat in this year’s Assembly polls in Odisha.
The regional party lost power to BJP in the state in 2024 Assembly elections. Subsequently, two Rajya Sabha MPs from BJD, Mamata Mohanta and Sujeet Kumar, resigned from the Upper House as well as the primary membership of the party.
They later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and got elected to the Rajya Sabha on the saffron party tickets.
During the vice-presidential elections in 2022, the BJD MPs in both Houses of the Parliament had voted in favour of NDA candidate Dhankhar.
Congress and many other opposition parties at the Centre had submitted a notice on December 10 seeking the removal of Dhankar as Rajya Sabha Chairman for his alleged partisan nature while running the Upper House.
