JHARSUGUDA: The alleged factional rift within the BJP in Jharsuguda seemed to deepen on Saturday after a section of party workers reportedly obstructed Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari while he was on way to offer prayers at the Samalei temple in Kandagad village under Hirma panchayat.
As per local sources, Pujari, who is also the Brajrajnagar MLA, arrived in the village at around 10 am for a personal visit to the shrine. While one group had gathered to receive the minister, another group staged a protest, shouting slogans of ‘Suresh Pujari go back’, accusing him of sidelining certain sections of the party workers in the district. They also claimed that they had not been intimated about Pujari’s visit.
The party workers expressed resentment citing they would have welcomed the minister had they been informed about his tour in advance. As the situation became tense, a police team led by Badmal IIC Dilip Behera reached the spot to pacify the party workers.
Though Pujari, on his part, clarified that the visit was purely personal and meant only for offering prayers, he was reportedly unable to proceed to the temple. As the protest continued, the minister left the spot and headed back to Bhubaneswar.
Jharsuguda BJP district president Raghu Nandan Panda, who was accompanying the minister, confirmed that the protest stemmed from resentment among local workers over not being informed about the visit.
“I was present with the minister during his visit. The party workers led by the mandal representatives of that area alleged that they were not informed about the minister’s visit and came to know about it from other sources. There may have been a communication gap, but the way they retaliated, even after the minister apologised and requested them to allow him to proceed as he had a flight to catch soon after, was against the party’s principles,” he said, further calling for disciplinary action in this regard.
The incident has, meanwhile, triggered speculations of factionalism within the BJP’s Jharsuguda unit as the protesters are reported to be supporters of Jharsuguda MLA Tankadhar Tripathy. Efforts to elicit response from Pujari and Tripathy on the matter proved futile.
