Bhubaneswar, April 9 BJD president Naveen Patnaik accepted the resignation of Sasmit Patra as the leader of the regional outfit's parliamentary party on Thursday.
Patra, a two-time Rajya Sabha MP, had submitted his resignation on Wednesday, citing reasons that remain undisclosed.
The office of the Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly said in a statement, "President of Biju Janata Dal, Sri Naveen Patnaik, has accepted the resignation of Dr Sasmit Patra, MP, as the leader of the BJD parliamentary party in the Rajya Sabha, today."
Party sources indicated that some BJD MPs had sought a change in leadership within the House.
The resignation comes two days after the oath-taking of the new BJD Rajya Sabha member, Santrupt Misra.
Earlier this month, Patra had also resigned from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT, protesting remarks made by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey about the late Biju Patnaik. Dubey was the head of the committee.
Patra had been the BJD's leader in the Rajya Sabha since 2022. Currently, the party has six members in the Upper House and none in the Lok Sabha.