All is not well with BJD in Sambalpur

SAMBALPUR:  Internal strife in district BJD has come out in the open with the several senior leaders voicing displeasure over the state of affairs in the unit. The functioning of party observer for the district, Rajya Sabha MP and party spokesperson Pratap Deb has come in for severe criticism from several quarters and is threatening to affect the party’s chances in the forthcoming elections.

Matters came to a flashpoint when Rengali MLA Ramesh Patua was allegedly not invited to a BJD meeting held in his constituency in presence of Deb on Friday. Even the district BJD president, Pramod Rath was not aware of the meeting.Expressing his discontentment, Patua said it came as a surprise that a party meeting was organised in Gosala area of his constituency without informing him. He would take up the matter with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, he said.

Rath is also unhappy over the recent developments. Besides not being invited to the Friday meeting, Rath was also not intimated about the party meeting at Hirakud under Sambalpur Assembly constituency on Saturday. “Although we are working towards strengthening the party base in Sambalpur, Deb has been ignoring us,” he alleged.

Not just Patua and Rath, leaders of Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) and Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) have vented their ire against Deb. They met the party observer on Friday evening after  coming to know that he would address a meeting, organised under the banner of Biju Yuva Chhatra Samavesh at Jamankira under Kuchinda constituency on Saturday. As they threatened that they would not allow the meeting under their banner, Deb asked the organisers to change the event name to Jatiya Yuba Sankalpa Divas.

State organising secretary of BYJD, Mohit Nayak said some persons, who are not members of BYJD or BCJD, had planned to organise the Chhatra Samavesh and Deb gave his consent to attend the meeting. However, the organisers had not intimated the BYJD and BCJD leaders of the district and the banner of the meeting was changed after they protested. Deb could not be contacted for comment.