BHUBANESWAR: Less than 24 hours after a Twitter war with party colleague Tathagat Satpathy, Biju Janata Dal MP Baijayant Panda on Tuesday called for introspection within the ruling outfit in face of challenges from new political parties gaining ground in the State.
In an article published in a leading Odia daily, Panda recalled the odds the party’s core group, of which he was a member, had faced to guide the fledgling BJD in 1997 when the State was riddled with rampant corruption, poverty and governance breakdown during the Congress rule.
One of the State’s most visible faces in Delhi’s political circuit, Panda pointed out that the core group has now been marginalised whereas opportunists, including some who had even worked against BJD, have now occupied key positions in the party. While he heaped praise on the leadership of Naveen Patnaik for taking bold steps to build the party and give the State a new sense of direction through a string of anticorruption measures and good governance models in the past, Panda also expressed concerns about how things have unfolded in last three years.
Allegations of both the Government and the party being run by bureaucrats have grown louder, Panda noted and observed that the state of affairs in Odisha is now reminiscent of the Congress rule of late 1990s.
Pointing at changing aspirations of the youth in India and resurgence of BJP under a new young leadership, the MP urged Naveen to take strong steps without which the party may struggle to overcome the challenges. With the article kicking up a new controversy, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said Panda could have taken up the matter at any party forum or discussed it with the president. “It is inappropriate on part of any member to rake up internal issues of the party in the media,” he said.
Another spokesman Pratap Jena echoed similar views and said Panda wants to hog the limelight through such articles in the media. “Most of his articles are not only critical of BJD but also show a leaning towards BJP,” he said.