BHUBANESWAR: Days after suspension of MLAs Sanatan Mahakud and Arvind Mohapatra, BJD president Naveen Patnaik held a meeting of senior leaders at the Naveen Nivas on Tuesday to discuss organisational matters.
Though the party did not issue a statement on what transpired at the meeting, sources said, Naveen took feedback from the leaders about the political situation in their respective areas following the action against the two legislators.
Besides, the party president is reported to have discussed the situation, particularly in Jajpur district where the zilla parishad president, vice-president and hundreds of workers crossed over to BJP recently. The desertion of such a large number of leaders and workers from Jajpur district, considered to be a stronghold of the regional outfit, has greatly embarrassed the party leadership.
Quite significantly, several leaders from Jajpur district including former general secretary (organisation) Pranab Prakash Das, government chief whip Pramila Mallik and former minister Pritiranjan Gharai first met at Mallik’s residence before attending the meeting at Naveen Nivas. While they did not speak about the discussion in their closed-door meeting, Gharai told mediapersons that grassroots workers want a change in the leadership in Jajpur district.
Though he did not elaborate on the matter, the statement seems to point towards former general secretary Das, who still controls the district BJD politics.