BJD MLA Arvind Mohapatra denies working against people after suspension

Bhubaneswar: A day after BJD president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik justified the suspension of Arvind Mohapatra alleging that he worked against the people, the Patkura MLA on Thursday said he did not agree with the party chief’s stand and strongly denied the charges.

“Every day they are shifting the goalposts and coming up with new reasons for my suspension. Earlier, the allegation was anti-party activity. Now the party chief says I worked against the people. I completely deny the charge. It is surprising and shocking,” Mohapatra said.


The first-time MLA said he was unperturbed by the party’s action and would continue to work for the people of his constituency. Mohapatra was suspended from BJD along with Champua MLA Sanatan Mahakud on Jan 15 for alleged anti-party activities.

On Wednesday, Naveen, while addressing party workers from Patkura, explained the rationale behind Mohapatra’s suspension, stating that he had never hesitated to remove individuals who failed to work for the people.

“I gave an opportunity to an individual to serve the people and work for the constituency. When I realised that he was not working and was instead troubling the people of Patkura as well as the party, I removed such an individual,” he said.