Former BJD MP Rabindra Kumar Jena joins BJP day after quitting party

Jena had submitted his resignation from BJD’s primary membership on Tuesday, citing “personal causes and circumstances” in his letter to party supremo Naveen Patnaik

Published on: Mar 11, 2026, 19:41:10 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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A day after resigning from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), former Balasore MP Rabindra Kumar Jena formally joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha on Wednesday, along with his supporters, at the party’s state headquarters in Bhubaneswar.

Jena had won the Balasore Lok Sabha seat on a BJD ticket in 2014 but lost it to BJP’s Pratap Sarangi in 2019. (Facebook page)

BJP’s Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and other senior leaders were present at the event.

Jena had submitted his resignation from BJD’s primary membership on Tuesday, citing “personal causes and circumstances” in his letter to party supremo Naveen Patnaik.

Jena’s joining came a day before a scheduled CBI court hearing on March 12, in a case where the agency has filed a chargesheet against Jena for his alleged involvement in the Seashore chit fund scam in Odisha.

Jena had won the Balasore Lok Sabha seat on a BJD ticket in 2014 but lost it to BJP’s Pratap Sarangi in 2019. He was denied the party ticket in 2024 general elections, with BJD fielding former BJP member Lekhashree Samantasinghar from the constituency instead.

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His wife, Subasini Jena, the sitting BJD MLA from Basta, was, however, fielded by the party in the 2024 Assembly elections and won by a margin of over 20,000 votes against Congress candidate Bijan Nayak.

Separately, the Basta and Balasore block chairpersons, along with six Zilla Parishad members from the district, also joined the BJP on Wednesday.

Defending his decision, Jena said, “BJP is the only party capable of developing Odisha as well as India.” He added that while he held Patnaik in high regard, he believed a regional party could not survive without passing the baton to the next generation of leaders — a concern he claimed to have raised with the BJD leadership on multiple occasions, without result.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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