BHUBANESWAR: Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha, a veteran tribal leader and five-time MLA from the Padampur seat in Odisha's Bargarh district, passed away on Sunday night,  family sources said on Monday. He was aged 65.

Bariha was receiving treatment at a hospital in Bhubaneswar for a number of ailments for a considerable amount of time. He is survived by his wife Tilotama, daughters Barsha, Kadambini, and son Bhojraj.

Bariha was elected to the state assembly five times from Padampur seat two times on Janata Dal ticket in 1990 and 1995, and three times on BJD ticket in 2000, 2009 and 2019.

Between 2009 and 2011, he also served in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's cabinet as the minister for SC and ST development.

Leaders of all political parties paid floral tributes to Bariha's departed soul as th body remains were brought to the grounds of the Odisha Assembly. His body is being taken to his ancestral house at Padampur, where last rites will be conducted, a family source said.

Senior officials from Odisha, including Governor Ganeshi Lal and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, expressed their condolences for his death.

Bariah was the sixth legislator to have departed after the 2019 elections.

Earlier, 2 sitting BJP MLAs , namely Madan Mohan Dutta (Balasore) and Bishnu Sethi (Dhamnagar), and 3 BJD MLAs Bishnu Das (Tirtol), Pradeep Maharathy (Pipili) and Kishore Mohanty (Brajarajnagar) had died.

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