Sourabha Kumar Parida
Bhubaneswar, July 13: Several BJD leaders have started blaming the party's top leadership for the electoral reverse it suffered in the recently concluded Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha.
Embarrassed by veteran leaders indulging in mud-slinging, party supremo Naveen Patnaik had urged them to refrain from making controversial statements and work together to strengthen the party.
However, it seems the top leadership has lost its control to keep them away from blame game. Former Parjanga MLA and senior BJD leader Dr. Nrusingha Charan Sahu on Friday attributed infighting as the main reason behind party's poll debacle. He also said anti-incumbency and overconfidence were two other reasons for BJD's unexpected defeat in the recently concluded elections. Though discontentment was brewing inside, all were trying to show that all is well, he added.
Similarly, last week senior BJD leader and former Cuttack-Choudwar MLA Prabhat Biswal blamed former party organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das and former party poster boy VK Pandian for the party's failure. Things could have taken a different turn if the elections were fought with only Naveen Patnaik’s brand without big posters and banners of the former bureaucrat, he pointed out. Notably, Pravat’s son Souvic Biswal won the Cuttack-Choudwar for the second time amid BJP wave.
Former Paradip MLA Sambit Routray last week made shocking allegation that party supremo Naveen Patnaik lost from Kantabanji Assembly seat because of an internal conspiracy.One should think why a strong leader like Naveen Patnaik lost in Kantabanji and won his home turf Hinjili by only 4,000 votes, he asked.
It is worth mentioning that the brewing discontent has come to fore in Bhawanipatna Municipality in Kalahandi district. Though eighteen councillors out of 20 belong to BJD, all the 20 councillors brought no-confidence motion against chairperson Sanjukta Behera last month.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee meeting witnessed a fight between BJD corporators in June. Even, some party councillors did not attend the meet with party supremo Naveen Patnaik along with mayor Sulochana Das. The power tussle between former MLA Ashok Chandra Panda and corporator Biranchi Narayan Mahasupakar has come to public discussions. On the otherhand, the dispute between former mayor and Bhubaneswar-Central MLA Ananta Narayan Jena and corporator Amaresh Jena is a long standing issue in Bhubaneswar BJD.
