Bhubaneswar: Bureaucrat-turned-politician Bijay Kumar Patnaik today resigned from the Congress party in Odisha.

Patnaik, a former Chief Secretary of the state, sent his resignation to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) through an email.

“Somehow I felt that Congress party did not require me anymore. So, my self-esteem prompted me to resign from the party. I had entered politics to serve the people. I will continue to serve people even after quitting the Congress party in Odisha. I have no plan to join any other party,” Patnaik said.

Patnaik claimed that he had tried his best to strengthen Congress party in Odisha but the party leadership did not give him the due importance.

Patnaik had joined the Congress in the presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge and other senior leaders in New Delhi on February 10, 2023.

Soon after joining Congress, Patnaik had been appointed as the chief of party’s campaign committee in Odisha. However, he was replaced by former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das ahead of this year’s Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the state.

The former IAS officer had unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Assembly polls from Paralakhemundi constituency in Gajapati district on a Congress party ticket.

Following its poor performance in the twin polls in the state, the AICC dissolved the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) and its executive body.

The AICC recently formed a 14-member steering committee to look after the affairs of the party in Odisha till the formation of a new OPCC. However, Patnaik and many senior leaders of the party were not included in the steering committee.

Patnaik, a 1976-batch IAS Officer, was the Chief Secretary of Odisha from 2010 to 2013. Prior to his appointment as the Chief Secretary, he had served as the Forest Secretary, Water Resources Secretary and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister. During his tenure as a bureaucrat, Patnaik was considered as an influential person in the Naveen Patnaik administration.

After his retirement as the Chief Secretary, Patnaik was appointed as the Commissioner of Odisha Staff Selection Commission. Later, he served as the member of Odisha Human Rights Commission. He resigned from the post in April 2015.

The retired bureaucrat was appointed as the president of proposed Vedanta University project for two years since 2015. He quitted the post in 2017 as the project was a nonstarter.