BJP in Odisha elated as dissension grown in the BJD

BJD MP calls upon Naveen for self-introspection

By Our Correspondent

BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 28: The Odisha unit of Bharatiya Janata Party is now elated with dissensions among leaders of the ruling BJD headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik reaching the boiling point.

The saffron party on Tuesday predicted that time had come for the BJD to collapse under its own weight and the BJP was all set to assume power in Odisha.

The BJP leaders’ joy knew no bounds after the an article by BJD’s high-profile Lok Sabha member Baijayant Panda appeared on Tuesday in a leading Odia daily in which he reminded the CM Naveen Patnaik of the “rots” setting in the party and people distancing themselves from it.

In blunt expression of his thought, Mr Panda said people have started comparing the last three years of the present state government with the Congress government that ruled the state from 1995-2000. “The Congress rule from 1990 to 1995 was marked by corruption in the administration and patronisation and protection of anti-socials across the length and breadth of the country. Now people have started comparing our last three years with the Congress government of later 1990S,” he said.

Mr Panda also cited the BJD’s poor show in the recently held rural polls as a fallout of the BJD’s declining popularity and called upon the chief minister Naveen Patnaik for “self-introspection.”

“We have been alleging that corruption has pervaded the administration and the state has plunged into lawlessness under the present government. Now, our allegation stands vindicated. What Baijayant Pana has written in the article is the naked truth,” said BJP Legislature Party (BJPLP) leader in state Assembly, Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo.

Mr Singhdeo, however, clarified that his party did not believe in taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the BJD and rather focused on strengthening its organisation at the grassroots to win the 2019 assembly polls on its own strength.

In another development, BJD spokesperson Pratap Kumar Jena said party MP Mr Panda’s article highlighting BJD’s internal affairs was an act of indiscipline. He also dropped hints that the party president and CM Naveen Patnaik would take appropriate action against him for discussing the internal affairs on the party in the press.

“If Mr Panda has found anything wrong in the party affairs, he should have discussed with party’s senior leaders and president. Instead, he has chosen the press to discuss party affairs. This is an act of indiscipline and party supremo, I believe, would take appropriate action in this regard,” said Mr Jena.