The Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday expelled Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar for his alleged “anti-party activities”. Sujeet Kumar is set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party later in the day.Meanwhile, the office of the Vice-President of India in a statement said Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, has accepted the resignation of Sujeet Kumar from the council of states (Rajya Sabha) with immediate effect, “finding the same in conformity with Article 101 3(b) of the Constitution”.
In his resignation from the membership of Rajya Sabha, Kumar mentioned that he had taken the decision consciously. He has been representing Odisha in the Upper House since 2020.This comes over a month after Mamata Mahanta, a prominent leader of the Kudumi community in Odisha, resigned from the Rajya Sabha as well as the primary membership of the BJD about two years before the end of her Rajya Sabha tenure. She was recently elected unopposed to the House of Elders from the BJP.With this, the strength of the BJD in Rajya Sabha has come down to 7.