Debashish Samantaray, the former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and Rajya Sabha member, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday, at the latter’s headquarters in the national capital. He joined the BJP in the presence of various party leaders, including BJP General Secretary Arun Singh, party chief spokesperson and media in-charge Anil Baluni and other senior leaders.
The development comes a day after the BJD stalwart quit Naveen Patnaik-led party and also tendered his resignation as the party’s Rajya Sabha member. Debashish, after taking the BJP's membership, met the party's President Nitin Nabin. He was felicitated by Nitin Nabin and greeted by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi, Manmohan Samal and other senior leaders.
Debashish Samantaray, before snapping decades-long association with the BJD, wrote a letter to party chief Naveen Patnaik on Monday and wrote, “I resign from the primary Membership of BJD today, i.e. 25th May 2026. I shall always be indebted to you for nominating me to Rajya Sabha.
I take this opportunity to express my sincere and deepest gratitude to you for giving me an opportunity to serve the people of undivided Cuttack district and to raise issues of Odisha at large, at the national level.” The same day, he also met Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan and tendered his resignation from the membership of the Rajya Sabha.
He was elected to the Upper House of Parliament in April 2024. With his resignation, the number of BJD members in the Rajya Sabha now stands reduced to five. Notably, the three-time MLA was elected to Odisha Legislative Assembly from the Tirtol and Barabati-Cuttack constituencies for three tenures in 2000-2004, 2009-2014 and 2014-2019.
Debashish Samantaray, once considered a blue-eyed boy of the BJD supremo, has been known for speaking out on the party’s internal affairs and had openly targeted V.K. Pandian, a former bureaucrat and close aide of Naveen Patnaik, in the past.