BHUBANESWAR: The reluctance of the BJD high command to review the poll debacle even after three-and-half months of the elections has led to rising resentment in the party with senior leaders no longer holding back their fulminations on the loss.
At a meeting of leaders of Nabarangpur organisational district with BJD president Naveen Patnaik here on Monday, former MP Pradeep Majhi raised the issue in the presence of the former chief minister. Majhi, who lost to BJP’s Balabhadra Majhi from the Nabarangpur LS seat in this election, blamed the talks of an alliance with BJP which was not refuted by the BJD, severe infighting in the ranks and zero election management as reasons behind the party’s defeat.
He stated that the party lost from many seats including his Lok Sabha seat because of internal sabotage. He said speculation about a potential alliance with the BJP eroded the party’s credibility among voters while internal sabotage further weakened its chances.
Former minister and BJD MLA from Ghasipura Assembly segment Badrinarayan Patra supported Majhi on Tuesday. The BJD would have won from many more seats had there been better election management, Patra said and added that Naveen’s failure to campaign actively during the election also cost many seats.
However, former minister from Nabarangpur district Ramesh Majhi dismissed the contentions of the leaders saying there was no internal sabotage in the election. There was also nothing wrong in election management of the party, he said.
Meanwhile, infighting has also come to the fore in the Bhubaneswar district unit of the BJD with supporters of former minister Ashok Panda and corporator Amaresh Jena filing complaints against each other at the Old town police station. The two groups had heated exchanges at a meeting at Sankha Bhawan in the presence of the former minister on Monday.