BHUBANESWAR: Fissures have developed in the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) over the party’s change of stand on the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2025 with senior leaders questioning the decision to allow the Rajya Sabha MPs conscience vote in a significant shift from its earlier position to oppose the legislation strongly in Parliament. Hours after the Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha, several senior leaders including the deputy leader of the BJD legislature Party Prasanna Acharya met at the Sankha Bhawan on Friday to discuss the issue. Acharya told mediapersons that the BJD parliamentary party had decided to oppose the Bill at its meeting. He said the decision to oppose the Bill also had the sanction of the party chief Naveen Patnaik, and added that now the party leaders want to know who decided to allow the party MPs to go for conscience vote. The senior leaders will discuss the issue with the party president, he added. Out of the seven Rajya Sabha members of the BJD, senior leader Sasmit Patra voted in favour of the Bill while Muzibulla Khan voted against it. Debasis Samantaray abstained from voting. The stand of four other MPs Manas Mangaraj, Sulata Deo, Niranjan Bisi and Subhasish Khuntia is yet to be known.
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