Bhubaneswar, August 16: Former Odisha chief secretary Bijay Patnaik quit from Congress on Friday.
The bureaucrat-turned-politician who unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Assembly election from Paralakhemundi constituency in Gajapati district sent his resignation to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) through an email.
Patnaik, who superannuated from service in 2013 had joined the Congress party in February 2023 in presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge.
“Somehow I feel that the Congress party does not need me anymore following which I have tendered my resignation to the AICC. But I will continue to serve the people of Odisha like further. I have no plans to join any other party,” Patnaik told media.
He was appointed as the chief of party’s campaign committee in Odisha soon after his joining. However, he was replaced by veteran leader Bhakta Charan Das before the 2024 elections.
The AICC also did not include him in the 14-member steering committee formed on August 14 to look after party affairs till formation of a new OPCC.
