Bhubaneswar, March 29 BJD MP Sasmit Patra resigned from a parliamentary committee headed by BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey on Sunday over the latter's remarks about former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik.
Dubey, in a statement on March 27, claimed that Biju Patnaik was the link between former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the CIA in the 1960s.
In protest, Patra resigned from the Communications and IT Committee headed by Dubey, while three other party MPs -- Manas Mangaraj, Subhasis Khuntia, and Muzibulla Khan (Munna Khan) -- criticised the BJP MP and accused him of "insulting the pride of Odisha".
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) was founded by his son Naveen Patnaik after his death in 1997. He was the chief minister of Odisha twice – from 1961 to 1963, and 1990 to 1995.
The BJD rejected Dubey's statement and demanded an apology from him.
BJD senior vice president Debi Prasad Mishra said Dubey's statement was "in bad taste, mischievous, and an insult to a patriot".
"We, as a political party, strongly condemn his statement and demand an apology from him," Mishra told