A day after resigning from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Rajya Sabha, senior leader Debashish Samantaray joined the BJP in New Delhi on Tuesday in the presence of senior leaders and Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal.Samantaray, 66, said he quit the Naveen Patnaik-led party as he had been “systematically belittled” there. Once a Naveen loyalist and with access to the BJD’s inner circle, Samantaray targeted Patnaik’s close aide and former IAS officer V K Pandian over the Biju Naveen Inspirational Foundation.Advertisement“V K Pandian is solely responsible for the BJD’s defeat in the 2024 polls and he single-handedly managed to stop the BJD’s winning spree. Naveen babu, during the 2024 election campaign, clarified that Pandian is not his successor. But he (Patnaik) handed over his Delhi residence at Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Road to the foundation trust headed by Pandian. The house belongs to Biju Patnaik, the most revered leader in the state and the move is an insult to Odia self-esteem,” said Samantaray.While Samantaray — who is a three-time MLA, alleged he was prevented from meeting the BJD chief for the past year — the regional party alleged that Samantaray has joined the BJP to secure his business empire and his exit will have no impact on the party.The BJD’s strength in the Rajya Sabha has come down to five with Samantaray’s resignation. Like Mamata Mahanta and Sujeet Kumar, who resigned from the party in 2024 and were renominated on BJP tickets, Samantaray is also likely to be renominated on a BJP ticket, said sources.Political arcAdvertisementSamantaray’s father Nityananda was a former Congress MLA from the Tirtol Assembly constituency in Jagatsinghpur district from 1985 to 1990.Debashish was not very active in Congress politics and joined the BJD in its early days. He became an MLA from Tirtol in 2000, the first Assembly election that the BJD contested. However, four years later, he lost to the Congress’s Chiranjib Biswal.As Tirtol was reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) following the 2008 delimitation, Samantaray shifted his base to Cuttack city, where his family owns construction, stevedoring, and other businesses. In the Assembly polls the following year, when the BJD contested on its own, Samantaray tried his luck from the Cuttack-Barabati seat. He defeated BJP veteran and sitting MLA from the erstwhile Cuttack city constituency, Samir Dey.Though Samantaray defended his seat in 2014, he got embroiled in a series of controversies — from his alleged proximity to gangster Dhal Samanta brothers to his sister-in-law accusing him of harassing her over family property disputes.Five years later, Samantaray lost to the Congress’s Mohammed Moquim, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha ahead of the 2024 polls and chose not to contest the Assembly polls. The BJD failed to win the seat, finishing third, while Moquim’s daughter Sofia Firdous won the seat on a Congress ticket.“Debashish babu is a senior leader and known to be a long-time associate of Naveen babu but he is not known as a leader for his organisational skills. The party has never given him any crucial organisational role outside Cuttack district,” said a BJD leader.BJP’s game planSamir Dey played an instrumental role in strengthening the BJP’s presence in Cuttack, Odisha’s oldest city. His demise in November 2024 left a vacuum as the party lacks a credible face in the region to spearhead its organisation.you may likeWhile a senior leader such as Bhartruhari Mahtab joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 polls and became an MP, he is not active in organisational matters. The party’s efforts to solidify its base by inducting film star and former BJD MP Anubhav Mohanty and eminent doctor Purna Chandra Mohapatra also didn’t bear much fruit.With Samantaray in its ranks, the party appears to be pursuing a twofold objective: strengthening the party’s base in Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur district, filling the vacuum left by Dey, and delivering a political message to the BJD.Since Samantaray was a known close associate of Naveen Patnaik, by bringing him into the party, the BJP has sent the signal that it is the only pole left in Odisha politics and as the regional party faces turbulence due to internal rifts, Patnaik’s advanced age and the absence of a clear succession plan, it will be ready to take in leaders who leave its former ally, said sources.