Bhubaneswar, March 19 Hundreds of women activists of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) staged a demonstration in front of the official residence of party MLA Subasini Jena on Thursday. Jena had voted in favor of the BJP-supported independent candidate, Dilip Ray, in the recent Rajya Sabha elections.
Jena, a lawmaker from the Basta assembly segment in the Balasore district, was among the six party MLAs who have been issued a show cause notice by the BJD to justify her decision to go against the party's decision and vote for Ray.
Jena said, "I cast my first vote for the BJD's official candidate, Santrupt Misra, in accordance with the directives of party supremo, Naveen Patnaik. However, my second preference vote went to the independent candidate, as per my conscience. I did not support Dr. Datteswar Hota because he was being supported by the Congress, which is the BJD's main rival in the Basta assembly segment."
She maintained that supporting a Congress-backed candidate would not have been acceptable to her voters.
However, the agitation led by Biju Mahila Janata Dal (BMJD) president Snehangini Chhuria condemned Jena's actions and called it a "betrayal" of the party that made her an MLA.
Chhuria alleged that despite being present with the BJD until the final moments, Jena voted in favor of a BJP-supported independent candidate. The BJD leadership termed this act as a "serious breach of party trust and discipline," Chhuria said.
The BJD's women's wing asked Jena to resign from her Assembly membership and seek a fresh mandate from the people.
The BJD's youth wing activists had also staged a similar protest in front of the residences of two other MLAs – Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki) and Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack) – who had voted for Ray in the Rajya Sabha election.
Both Tripathy and Biswal admitted to having cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections and justified their actions by noting that they voted for BJP-backed Ray in the RS polls, respecting Biju Patnaik's legacy.
Meanwhile, sources said that the city police have made elaborate security arrangements near the official residence of the 11 MLAs who allegedly cross-voted, defying the official decisions of both the BJD and the Congress.