BARGARH: RIFT in BJP surfaced on Wednesday after the party’s State executive member of SC Morcha Pramod Chhatar resigned from the party. Protesting the nomination of former BJD MLA Ashok Panigrahi as BJP candidate in the pollbound Bijepur, Chhatar announced that he will fight the by-poll independently. Addressing the media, Chhatar charged the BJP leadership with autocracy and questioned the rationale behind selecting an outsider over dedicated party workers.
There were many in the party who are opposed to the candidature of Panigrahi, he claimed. While Chhatar, who was an aspirant for the Bijepur by-poll from BJP, may not garner too many votes which can threaten the saffron party, it has definitely sent out a negative signal just when the date of the by-election has been declared. There has been resistance to Panigrahi’s inclusion in the BJP. Former district BJP president Narayan Sahu and his followers were the first to raise the voice of revolt. While Sahu has joined BJD, the resignation of Chhatar will definitely dent the BJP’s image to some extent as he would eat into the party’s vote bank, political observers said.
Meanwhile, five sets of nomination papers have been procured from the office of Returning Officer- cum-Sub Collector of Padampur. While one set has been issued to BJD nominee Ritarani Sahu, who is slated to file her nomination of February 5, another has been provided to BJP nominee Panigrahi. One set each has been issued to Purna Chandra Paika of Ambedkar Right Party of India and Independent candidates Pramod Chhatar and Kuber Lal Yadav respectively.