BHUBANESWAR: Raising questions over his continuous neglect in State BJP affairs, senior party leader Bijay Mohapatra on Saturday alleged that he was not invited during the three-day visit of national president Amit Shah to Odisha from July 4 for booth level exercise.
"This is not the first time that the State BJP has overlooked me during an important event," Mohapatra said and added that on different occasions in the past, the State BJP leaders have ignored him. "Either I am not qualified or I do not deserve to be part of such important events," Mohapatra said and added, "some good people are there to run the party. Let them run it."
The senior BJP leader, however, said he has no idea who is taking decisions to sideline him in the party. Mohapatra said nobody in the party consulted him on any issue even if it was changing the president of his home district Kendrapara.
Asked about the target set by Shah for the State BJP to win 120 seats in the Assembly in 2019 election, Mohapatra said he has no idea on what basis the national president has made the assessment. As he was not present on the occasion, he would not comment on the matter, he added.
Mohapatra, who has put the party in an embarrassing situation many times in the past by raising awkward questions, did not attend programmes of the national president during his recent visit to Odisha.
However, Odisha in-charge Arun Singh clarified that he and State BJP president Basant Panda had invited Mohapatra to the meetings of the national president.