Denied tickets for assembly polls, two sitting BJD MLAs alleged conspiracy by ‘coterie group’

By Dr Gourang Charan Nayak

Bhubaneswar, April 23 :  Two sitting MLAs for Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD)— Raghunandan Das of Balikuda- Ersama constituency and Sunanda Das of Bari — on Monday alleged conspiracies behind denial of party ticket to them to fight the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

The alleged that they were victims of “foul play” and “conspiracies” by a coterie group which is wielding much influence on the Chief Minister’s Office.

The reactions of the two leaders came after the party announced its sixth list of assembly candidates which contained six names.

The BJD fielded Sharada Prasanna Jena from the Balikuda- Ersama assembly seat in place of sitting MLA Raghunandan Das. Similarly, the party fielded Biswaranjan Mallick in place of Sunanda Das in Bari.

“When I was unwell, a coterie group active in the BJD hatched a conspiracy against me. The conspiracy was cooked by some district-level leaders for which I have been denied a BJD ticket this time. Despite illness, tickets have been given to Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik, Badri Patra, Prasanna Acharya and Aswini Patra. Right information has not reached Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. At present, I am in the party and will denounce everything if needed,” said Das.

Bari MLA Sundanda Das said, “In 2019, I won the Bari assembly seat by a margin of 4,600 votes and was able to increase the number of votes of the party by 40,000. Despite this, the people with vested interests have been successful in their conspiracy,” said Sunanda.

She claimed that although reports of surveys commissioned by the BJD went in her favour, conspirators managed to sideline her.

“Despite most of the elected panchayati raj representatives, including Sarapanches and Zilla Parishad members, advocating for my renomination as BJD candidate, I was denied a party ticket. This is a sheer injustice meted out to me.  I know that Lord Jagannath will do justice to me by taking note of those who are behind the conspiracy,” said Sunanda.

She claimed that had Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seen all the reports, I would have got the party ticket.”