Kandhamal BJD MP suspended from party

Odisha Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik today suspended sitting party MP Rudramadhav Ray from the party on charge of anti-party activities.
Ray was earlier denied a BJD ticket to contest the polls from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat which he has been representing in the Lok Sabha.
Ray was among the six sitting MPs -- Mohan Jena (Jajpur), Jayram Pangi (Koraput), Nityananda Pradhan (Aaska), Yashbant Narayan Singh Laguri (Keonjhar) and Laxman Tudu (Mayurbhanj) -- who had been denied BJD tickets for the 2014 elections.
BJD fielded former Congress leader Hemendra Singh of Nayagarh in place of Ray.
After the announcement of Singh as the BJD candidate for Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat, Ray had organised several meetings of his followers in different parts of Kandhamal to pressurise the party leadership to reconsider its decision in his favour.

Singh had joined BJD after quitting Congress just before the 2014 elections.
Claiming that he had never indulged in any anti-party activities, Ray said he was surprised to know about his suspension. "This is a biased decision of the party president. For this kind of attitude of Patnaik, BJD is sinking," he said.
Ray also held Energy Minister and Nayagargh MLA Arun Sahoo responsible for his suspension from the BJD.