A day ahead of Kranti Samabesha of Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM), the outfit, floated by Pyarimohan Mohapatra, the political war between Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the rebel has intensified with the latter accusing Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of resorting to nasty politics to foil the rally.
The BJD has, on the other hand, declared the Morcha as an unconstitutional body which has no links with it. “It is neither a registered political party nor a frontal organisation of the BJD,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kalpataru Das and Government Chief Whip Prabhat Tripathy said at a joint media conference here on Saturday.
After the failed attempt to oust the Chief Minister on May 29, Pyari is now acting as an agent of the Congress, they said.
Incidentally, miscreants stoned Pyari’s car late on Friday and smashed the rear glass of the vehicle. Pyari’s car was parked in the portico of his residence.
Blaming Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the incident, Pyari alleged that he (Naveen) instructed his men to do this before leaving for New Delhi on Friday.
Condemning the incident, Morcha spokesman Jagneswar Babu said, “this was not expected from the son of Biju Patnaik.”
Police said it has started an inquiry after getting information over phone.
Meanwhile, the frontal wings of the BJD have stepped up their campaign against Pyari and the OJM. The Biju Mahila Janata Dal (BMJD) on Saturday burnt Pyari’s effigy in front of the city office of the Morcha and demanded the rebel MP’s resignation from Rajya Sabha for his statements against the Chief Minister.
The BMJD activists went in a procession from Rupali Square to city office of Morcha in Sahid Nagar and staged a demonstration.
The Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) had also burnt the effigy of Pyari on Friday and demanded his resignation. Ministers and MLAs of the regional outfit worked overtime to foil the rally by preventing BJD workers from reaching Bhubaneswar. All the ministers, BJD MLAs and senior leaders are now camping in their respective constituencies to ensure that BJD workers are not able to make it to the rally, Babu said. He, however, said despite all the machinations of the BJD ministers and MLAs with the assistance of the State administration, the OJM rally will be a success. He said more than 50,000 people from all parts of the State would attend the rally.
He, however, said plans are afoot to delay the arrival of the workers to the rally by detaining the vehicles at the three entry check points at Uttara, Rasulgarh and Khurda. Pyari had written two letters to the Chief Minister requesting him to issue direction to the administration to ensure free movement of people by road and rail to the venue of the rally and maintain law and order.
The BJD rebel alleged that Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) and Motor Vehicle Inspectors (MVIs) are threatening vehicle owners in their areas not to ferry workers to the rally. In one instance, Minister of State for Energy Arun Sahu, along with the Nayagarh RTO, threatened vehicle owners, he said.
Pyari alleged that attempts are being made by BJD leaders to disrupt the rally by bringing women and children through other organisations and create untoward incidents. There is a plan to push 2,000 ‘goondas’ into the rally to create violence, he said.