Amid a tug of war between legislator Rabi Narayan Pani and former MLA Mahesh Sahu, Damodar Rout, the BJD observer in charge of Dhenkanal and Angul districts, said the party has decided to give command to Sahu for the urban local body (ULB) polls in Talcher.
Rout announced the decision at a meeting attended by party workers and both the warring leaders. However, local MP Tathagat Satpathy was absent in the meeting. Party sources said the BJD president Naveen Patnaik decided in favour of Sahu at a meeting with the latter. Rout only made the official announcement for the party workers.
Political observers said BJD had lost the last ULB polls in Talcher and Angul due to internal bickering. Going by the differences among the leaders, the party may get same result this time too, they added.