BHUBANESWAR: Discontentment seems to be brewing in the BJD against those responsible for its shock defeat in the general elections with former Paradip MLA Sambit Routray alleging that party supremo Naveen Patnaik lost from Kantabanji Assembly seat because of an internal conspiracy.
Routray made this startling revelation on Sunday and said, “One should think why a strong leader like Naveen Patnaik lost in Kantabanji and scraped through by only 4,000 votes in Hinjili. The BJD government had done a lot of welfare work during the last several years. Be it development of roads, schools, temples or hospitals, the government left no area uncovered to ensure better services to people. The BJD government also provided funds for improvement of quality of life.”
He claimed there was a well-planned conspiracy in the party. The entire election exercise of the BJD was deliberately sabotaged from within. The saboteur will be exposed over time and the media will come to know about him.
Routray did not name the leader responsible for the defeat but hinted that he was important. Asked whether VK Pandian, who was the star campaigner of BJD in the election, was responsible for the defeat, he said, “Such claims are surfacing in the media. But I do not want to comment on it now,” he said.
The former MLA further said exercise for organisational revamp of the BJD is underway and everything will be put in order by party president Naveen.