Ashok’s induction in BJP to have no impact on BJD: CM

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the BJP organised a massive show at Barpali to welcome suspended BJD leader Ashok Panigrahy to the party ahead of the by-poll to Bijepur Assembly constituency, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said it will have no impact on his party.“It will have no impact,” the BJD supremo said while replying to a question during the Jana Sampark Padyatra in the City on Monday. BJD vice-president and former minister Debi Prasad Mishra said BJP has inducted Panigrahy to the party as it was in search of a candidate for the Bijepur by-poll. “It will not make any difference,” he said and added that the BJD will win the by-poll. 

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister announced that he will campaign for party candidate Ritarani Sahu, widow of Congress MLA Subal Sahu, in the by-poll. Announcement of Ritarani as BJD candidate had sparked off strong resentment in the BJD with several leaders including former Bargarh district president Prabhat Aditya Mishra openly opposing the decision. Panigrahy, who was an aspirant for BJD ticket for the by-poll, also wrote a strongly-worded letter to the Chief Minister opposing the decision.
The BJD has started efforts to assuage the feelings of the dissident leaders led by Mishra, though the first round meeting between them and district observer and senior minister Prafulla Mallik failed to yield any result. 

Sources in the BJD, however, maintained that with the Chief Minister deciding the campaign for the party candidate in the by-poll, the dissidents will fall in line.Several Congress leaders also maintained that Subal Sahu’s family joining BJD will have no impact on the party vote bank in the Bijepur Assembly constituency. The leaders maintained that Sahu won from the constituency for the last three consecutive terms because of Congress votes and this time also the party candidate will win.