Rift deepens in BJD over Block president selection

The announcement of new block and nagar presidents has further deepened the rift within the district unit of BJD with fears of violence looming large in many areas. 
BJD candidates filing nomination papers in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. (Photo | Biswanath Swain, EPS)
BJD candidates filing nomination papers in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. (Photo | Biswanath Swain, EPS)

JAGATSINGHPUR: The announcement of new block and nagar presidents has further deepened the rift within the district unit of BJD with fears of violence looming large in many areas. The party’s local unit was earlier divided over the choice of candidates for the posts with BJD MLAs lobbying hard for their respective nominees. On Monday, BJD announced presidents of seven of the eight blocks and two municipality heads of the party. The selection has not gone down well with many aspirants and their supporters. Sources said the tension between warring factions in the party is palpable and may escalate any time soon.  

According to District returning officer (DRO) of BJD Gautam Palit, Manoj Bhoi has been selected as Jagatsinghpur BJD block president, Sujit Mallick as Naugaon chief and Priyabrat Mohapatra as the nagar head of Jagatsinghpur Munciplaity. Similarly, Ratanakar Nayak is the new Balikuda block president and Pitabas Gochayat is Erasama chief and Basant Biswal has been selected as nagar president of Paradip Municipality.

The name of Kujang block president has not been announced due to differences between Paradip MLA Sambit Routray and his father Damodar Rout’s arch rival Debasish Samantray, the party observer for the district. Assistant returning officer of Kujang Tapan Samantray said the party nominated former sarpanch of Bhutmundai Sanjay Swain for the post but local MLA Routray threw his support behind newly-elected sarpanch of Kujang Bharat Bhusan Nayak. This has created hindrances in selection of any candidate for post, he said.

Sources said apart from the friction among supporters of Samantray and Routray in Kujang, the BJD camp has been divided in Tirtol Assembly segment due to the rift between local MLA Bishnu Das and his arch rival MP Rajshree Mallick over section of presidents of three blocks in the constituency. Fresh tension has surfaced in Tirtol after Mallick’s candidate Gangadhar Biswal was selected as the block president. Presidents of Raghunathpur and Biridi blocks were also backed by the MP. After Das’ candidates were ignored for the posts, his supporters are unhappy and waiting for an opportunity settle scores with the rival group.

Sarojkant Swain, who was backed by Das for Raghunathpur block chief post, said dispute between the local MLA and MP has disturbed the selection process. “As per provision, the names of block presidents should be declared by the State returning officer not DRO. I filed my nomination paper before the SRO. I am hopeful of getting this post after the announcement by SRO,” he claimed.

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