CUTTACK: The just concluded Baliyatra has ripped open fissures in the ruling BJD’s Cuttack unit. A day after senior BJD leader and former Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy questioned the manner in which the Baliyatra was conducted this year and sought a special audit on the financial aspects of the fair, former Barabati-Cuttack MLA and president, of Cuttack district unit of BJD, Debasish Samantaray hit back at Tripathy and also targeted mayor Subhas Singh.
Samataray rubbished Tripathy’s remarks over politicisation of the historic Baliyatra including the recital of a paean on Naveen Patnaik during a cultural festival. He questioned why the name of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik whose contribution has enabled the administration in holding the trade fair in a grand manner should not be declared on the stage.
“I cannot find as to how the Baliyatra was politicised with the recital of a song praising our Chief Minister Naveen Patanaik who has great contribution towards holding the fair in a grand manner. It is also a matter of regret that mayor Subhas Singh too has given a statement that Baliyatra should not be politicised. Perhaps, Singh has forgotten the political party that he belongs to and got him elected,” said Samantaray.
However, Samantaray said the administration should have involved people from different walks of life especially the Mahanagar Shanti Committee and Puja Committee. Countering the statement, Tripathy said it is Samantaray’s personal choice to ascertain whether the paean would benefit or hamper the image of a party leader.
“Baliyatra is certainly not a commercial or cultural organisation or an institution. The ethos of Baliyatra was killed in broad daylight. The small and middle scale vendors who used to make their livelihood for six months by setting up stalls have been deprived of participating in the fair with administration facilitating middlemen to avail the plots and later selling those to big traders, entrepreneurs and companies,” said Tripathy. The issue will not die down unless a special audit is instituted, he stated.