Bhubaneswar, Sep 12 : The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) President Naveen Patnaik has suspended senior leader and former MLA Prafulla Mallik from the party for engaging in anti-party activities. "Prafulla Kumar Mallik, Ex MLA Kamakhyanagar, District Dhenkanal, is hereby suspended from Biju Janata Dal for his involvement in anti-party activities with immediate effect," reads an office order issued by BJD with the signature of vice president Pratap Jena. Meanwhile, Mallik told reporters that he had already submitted his resignation to the party and also informed the party leaders about his decision. He also stated that the BJD party is no longer adhering to the ideologies on which it was founded. Mallik also alleged that the party has failed to discharge its responsibilities as the main opposition party. Earlier, the BJD vice president Jena had called Mallick the "Most Opportunist Leader in a Century". Jena said Mallick was elected MLA four times as a BJD candidate, with the party supremo himself campaigning for him. He also alleged that former Chief Minister Patnaik had also made him minister, entrusted with key portfolios like Works and Mines. "But, now that the party has lost the elections and is not in power, he's turned against the very organisation that shaped his political journey. It's a blatant display of his opportunistic nature," said Jena.

Senior leader and former BJD MP, N Bhaskar Rao, former minister Lal Bihari Himirika, along with several other leaders and workers of the BJD in Rayagada district, had tendered their resignation from the primary membership of the party on Tuesday. In his resignation letter to party President Naveen Patnaik, Rao wrote, 'I don't have any kind of complaints against any individual for any reason. With a heavy heart, I submit my resignation from the Biju Janata Dal, concluding my active political journey within the party.

/IANS