BJD leader stirs hornet’s nest, says party suffered defeat due to sabotage by ‘own people’

By Pravakar Sahoo

Bhubaneswar, July 8 : Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Sambit Routray on Sunday stirred a hornet’s nest as he observed that his party suffered a crushing defeat in the recently held Lok Sabha and assembly elections due to the “sabotaging” activities from within the organization. He stated that people will soon come to know about these saboteurs.

“The BJD government headed by Naveen Patnaik left no stone unturned to serve the people of the state. Crores of rupees were spent for rural and urban infrastructure development. Besides, numerous welfare schemes were rolled out for the poor. Every gram panchayat was given Rs 50 lakh for development activities. However, we were surprisingly defeated because of sabotage by certain people,” said Routray.

He added that a committee comprising senior leaders of the party has been formed to find out reasons and the persons responsible for the defeat.

Asked if V Karthikeyan Pandian, the blue-eyed boy of Naveen Patnaik who was given a free hand to run the government and organisation, was responsible for the loss of elections, Routray chose to proffer a short reply, — “Yes, it could be.”

After Badrinath Patra, Sashi Bhusan Behera, Pravat Ranjan Biswal and Arun Sahu, Routray is the fifth leader who has indicated sabotage by party leaders.

Interestingly, the former CM Naveen Patnaik has come to the strong defence of Pandian saying he had no role in the defeat of BJD in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

“Mr Pandian has served the state quite efficiently as an IAS officer and later the BJD as a party member. His integrity cannot be doubted,” Naveen had said soon after the elections when some of the BJD leaders questioned the bureaucrat-turned politician’s supremacy in the BJD and the state government.

After a long stint of 24 years in power, the BJD lost power to BJP in the recently held assembly elections. It could win 51 of the 147 seats while 74 went to the BJP.