BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which is under fire from the opposition political parties for its failure to take steps to end farmers’ suicide, on Monday deferred the proposed workshop on agriculture and farmers scheduled on April 20.
Though BJD maintained that the proposed workshop has been deferred because of the intense heat wave condition prevailing across the State, opposition political parties alleged that the event has been postponed because of the growing differences in the party over the alleged links of Minister of State for Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Sanjay Dasburma with chit fund scam-tainted company Artha Tatwa Group.
While the opposition political parties have demanded resignation of the Minister over the issue, several BJD leaders, including some MPs, have advised Dasburma to respect public opinion.
Meanwhile, Dasburma on Monday remained absent from a meeting of the Biju Patnaik Birth Centenary Coordination Committee giving rise to speculations in political circles here.
The meeting was attended by convenor of the committee Tathagata Satpathy, Minister for School and Mass Education Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister of State for Energy Pranab Prakash Das, Minister of State for Health Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Minister of State for Law Arun Sahu, Minister of State for Higher Education Pradeep Panigrahi and Kandhamal MP Pratyusha Rajeshwari.