Former Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy on Thursday challenged Naveen Patnaik’s statement that he (Tripathy) is not a member of the party and had earlier been expelled from it.

On Wednesday, Naveen had said: “I also want to state it clearly, Pravat Tripathy, the ex-MLA, was expelled from the Biju Janata Dal some years ago, indicted in the chit fund case, and spent some years in jail. I want to clarify again that he does not belong to the party.”

Addressing a press conference, Tripathy said: “As the case relating to the chit fund was sub judice, the party decided to revoke my suspension in 2017. Till last evening, I was a member of the party. I attended the election campaign meeting addressed by Naveen Patnaik and V. K. Pandian. Even Pandian had praised the way I helped Naveen Patnaik in 2012 when a section of leaders staged a coup against him” he said.

Tripathy further said: “Naveen Patnaik targeted me to divert the attention from the Waqf Act controversy. We want to know why the party MPs deviated from the party’s principle of secularism and who had asked them to do so.”

Patnaik is likely to change Sasmit Patra as the party’s leader in the Rajya Sabha after he asked his Upper House colleagues to vote “according to their conscience” during the passage of the Waqf Act, sources said on Thursday.

Sasmit Patra, who returned from Tashkent on Thursday, is yet to comment on the issue.