Factionalism rears its head in Balasore BJD ahead of bypoll

BHUBANESWAR: Even before the announcement of bypoll date, intense factionalism has come to the fore in the BJD’s Balasore district unit where a party workers’ conference scheduled on Wednesday had to be cancelled at the last moment.

At the centre of the problem in the ruling BJD lies the alleged attempt to sideline district president and former MP Rabindra Jena who has not been given any specific responsibility for bypoll from the seat which the regional outfit is trying to wrest from the BJP. The district BJD observer and Law Minister Pratap Jena is camping at Balasore for the last three days to diffuse the situation.

Sources said the Minister had a long meeting with the former MP amidst rumours that the latter is going to quit. Later, the former MP clarified that there is no basis to the rumours about his resigning from the party. Jena said he will carry out whatever responsibility is given to him by the party in the bypoll.

However, the former MP and his supporters were unhappy over the fact that his detractors were given charge of different areas of the Assembly constituency for the bypoll without spelling out any specific assignment for Jena. Supporters of the former MP alleged that those given charge of different areas of the Assembly seat had a role to play in the defeat of Jena in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

A meeting held in the Balasore residence of former Government chief whip Anant Das last week is reported to have aggravated the situation. Sources said the meeting was attended by former MLA from Balasore Jiban Pradip Das and other BJD MLAs from the district to which the former MP was not invited.
In a bid to placate the former MP, the Law Minister said no leader has been given any specific charge for the bypoll. All will work for the candidate who will be announced by Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik soon, he said. 

The names of former MLA Jiban Pradip Das, Ollywood actor Arindam, a relation of BJD heavyweight Pranab Prakash Das and Subhasini Jena, wife of the former MP, are doing the rounds as probable candidates from the seat. Das, a three-time MLA from Balasore seat, had lost to Madan Mohan Dutt of the BJP in 2019 elections by nearly 13,000 votes.