BHUBANESWAR: The turmoil in the BJD continues to intensify with yet another senior leader joining the bandwagon of dissenters and directly accusing former chief minister Naveen Patnaik for the party’s debacle in the elections this year.
Two-time MLA from Chhendipada Assembly constituency Sushant Behera, who lost from the seat this year, on Friday alleged the BJD was defeated in the election as the party was neglected by the supremo.
“Naveen should have taken charge himself but he neglected the party. The party president should have led the campaign. He should have addressed election meetings but he deputed his representative which was the major cause behind BJD’s defeat,” he stated.
Behera said, Naveen’s absence from the poll scene and the perception that he was no longer in charge affected the morale of the party workers. Without naming Naveen’s close associate VK Pandian, Behera said, there was a strong feeling against the way the BJD was being run by the president and this was reflected in the results. There were also serious lapses in poll management, he added.
Behera is the fourth senior leader to target the party chief for the mismanagement during the elections and his overdependence on Pandian which led to the defeat. He lost the Chhendipada seat to Agasti Behera of the BJP by a margin of over 15,000 votes in this year’s elections.
During the last one month, three other former MLAs Prakash Behera, Amar Prasad Satpathy and Sunanda Das had blamed the former CM for BJD’s defeat. While Behera and Das have joined BJP, Satpathy has resigned from the party.