JAJPUR: Resentment is brewing among the BJD MLAs in the district over denial of any representation in the State Cabinet from Jajpur. Considered a strong base of the BJD and represented by seven ruling party MLAs, the district does not have a minister after the exit of Pranab Prakash Das. In fact, the reshuffle has come as a surprise as political heavyweights from the district were in the fray for ministerial berth. Among them were former minister and Barachana legislator Amar Prasad Satpathy, former minister and Bari MLA Debashis Nayak and former minister and Binjharpur legislator Pramilla Mallik. But all of them were ignored in the Cabinet reshuffle.
Political observers said there was a time when there were three ministers in the State Government from Jajpur district. Zero representation will weaken the BJD base in the district and affect the performance of the party in the next Assembly election. Pramilla Mallick and Debashis Nayak had a close door parley at Amar Prasad Satpathy’s residence in Bhubaneswar on Monday night over the possible impact of non-representation of Jajpur in the Council of Ministers.
Notably, Amar Satpathy was made minister in the first Naveen Patnaik ministry in 2000. He was dropped from the ministry and Prafulla Chandra Ghadei was made minister in 2004. Ghadei remained in Naveen’s ministry till 2012.
There were three ministers __ Ghadei, Debashis Nayak and Pramilla Mallik from the district in 2004. Both Ghadei and Pramilla were ministers in 2009. Kalpataru Das was made minister after Ghadei was expelled from the party in 2012. Pranab Prakash Das got ministerial berth from the district in 2014 and he had to tender his resignation last week. Jajpur district unit BJD president Naresh Chandra Mohanty said it is not possible for the party to give representation to all the 30 districts in the Ministry.
Zero presence
Pramilla Mallick and Debashis Nayak had a close door meet at Amar Prasad Satpathy’s residence in Bhubaneswar
Impact of non-representation of Jajpur in the Council discussed
Pranab Prakash Das, who got ministerial berth from the district in 2014, had to resign last week