BHUBANESWAR: In a further setback to the Congress, two family members of former firebrand leader Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra and activists of ‘Lulu Sena’, a youth brigade owing allegiance to him, joined the BJP at an impressive gathering here on Saturday.Joining the saffron party, Upasana Mohapatra, the only daughter of Lalatendu, known as Lulu to his friends, came down heavily on the Congress for neglecting her father despite his immense contribution to the party.Showing signs of aggressiveness of her father, Upasana in her maiden political speech said the Congress has tormented his father a lot by ignoring him in the last few years before his death.
“His (Lulu’s) 32 years of hard work for the party was not recognised. Congress killed my father and there is no point to stay in the party which is in a self-destructive mode,” said an emotionally charged Upasana.
Making a strong connect with the audience, she said it took almost a year after her father’s death to decide to leave the Congress and join BJP. “It was a very difficult decision for my family. But I am happy with the decision for a new beginning,” Upasana said.
Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra, younger brother of Lulu, who joined the saffron party along with her niece, said the faction ridden Congress party has no future in the State as most of its leaders continue to work at cross purposes.Recounting the political development in the State when Pyari Mohan Mohapatra staged a coup and Congress high command refused to extend support to his faction, Lalitendu said his brother was devastated when he came to realise the tacit understanding of his Central leadership with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The Lulu Sena had signalled the Congress that its merger with the BJP was a matter of time when it felicitated the Union Petroleum Minister at a function here on August 21 for making it possible to celebrate the bi-centenary of Paika Bidroha at the national level.
Welcoming the merger of Lulu Sena with the BJP, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the main architect of the political fusion, said this is a momentous occasion as family members of Baxi Jagabandhu has joined hand with the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to wage another struggle to build a prosperous Odisha.Lashing out at the Congress, Pradhan said the main opposition party in the State has done a crime by extending covert and some times overt support to the ruling BJD which has ruined the State in the last 17 years.
Responding to Chief Minister’s jibe at national parties for the current unstable atmosphere in the country, Pradhan sought to know if arresting BJD MLAs and MPs for their involvement in chit fund scam and putting behind bars are vitiating the atmosphere.Senior advocate of Orissa High Court and a close associate of Lulu, Pitamber Acharya also joined the saffron party.