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Deputy leader of Odisha BJP legislature party and Dalit leader Bishnu Sethi passed away on Monday morning at the AIIMS hospital in Bhubaneswar following kidney failure. He was 61.
Sethi, who was suffering from kidney-related ailments, was in the ICU for the past one month and underwent dialysis, said AIIMS officials.
He was admitted to AIIMS after he suffered infection in his lungs and a brain stroke about a month ago. He was also a diabetic.
He has left behind a wife, son and daughter.
Sethi was a two-time MLA.
In 2019, he was elected deputy leader of the 23-member state BJP legislature party.
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Odisha governor Ganeshi Lal and Andhra Pradesh governor Biswa Bhushan Harichandan along with chief minister Naveen Patnaik expressed their condolences.
Leader of state BJP legislature party, Jai Narayan Mishra said Sethi’s death was a huge loss to the party. “There are very few leaders who could speak with lot of conviction about issues and Sethi was one of them,” said Mishra.
An alumnus of JNU, Sethi did not join government service though he had passed the examination conducted by Odisha Public Service Commission twice.
He instead joined as a sub-editor of the Odia newsweekly “Bishesh Khabara” started by former BJP MP MA Kharabela Swain.
At the age of 44, he became member of BJP’s national council and was made state vice president of party’s Scheduled Caste (SC) morcha.
In 1996, he made his first electoral appearance when he fought the Lok Sabha poll from Bhadrak on BJP ticket, but lost his security deposit polling 13.5% votes.
However, in 2000, he won from Chandbali assembly constituency of Bhadrak on BJP ticket and similarly emerged victorious from Dhamnagar assembly constituency on a BJP ticket in 2019.
A poet and writer, he edited Ghasaphula, a historical and cultural quarterly magazine.
His prose collection ‘Shironama Sirodharya’ reflects several socio-cultural issues.
He also has two poem collections - Nirmaya Aakash Tale and Niswa Matira Swara - to his credit.
He used to write regular columns in various Odia newspapers and journals.
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