Biswa Bhusan Mohapatra
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Oct 6: A fierce one-upmanship in the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has taken its toll on the student union polls in the Utkal University (UU). Internecine fight among a section of the young and ambitious BJD leaders, some of whom are ministers in the present dispensation, has ensured that political processes and grooming of future leaders on campuses is nipped in the bud.
Mutual jealousy and fear among these leaders have led to cancellation of polls in UU, triggering massive unrest among students. These young BJD leaders have made the most of the campus politics to undercut one another in the party’s organisational chessboard.
Sources said the main reason for cancellation of polls in UU is a tussle between two groups of BJD leaders who want to strengthen their base in the party ahead of BJD’s upcoming organisational poll.
According to party circles, the turf war between the two young ministers holding four important portfolios between them has played a critical role in the student union elections in UU. With the announcement of BJD’s organisational poll, the internal politics in the party has come to the fore. Leaders have started lobbying hard to strengthen their base in the party.
The current president of Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) Sanjay Dasburma may make way for a new president as he gets little time for organizational issues after he became a minister. New chiefs of the party’s youth and student wings will be elected by the end of this year.
Party sources said MLAs Byomkesh (Bapi) Ray, the current president of Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) and Priyadarshi Mishra are eying the BYJD chief’s post.
Sources said Bapi is lobbying hard for the post and he is ably supported by one of the two senior ministers. As Bapi does not have a grip over UU campus, he does not want the elections to be held as a BJD win in UU will give mileage to the other faction led by Priyadarshi.
Incidentally Priyadarshi had picked up Chinmay Sahoo and Tanmay Swain from Congress last year to strengthen the party’s base in the campus. With the support of Sahoo and Swain, BJD for the first time had won the union elections in UU last year.
Sources said if polls are held this year, chances are that Priyadarshi’s team will win the elections hands down. This could be the reason for Bapi and his godfather to have the polls scrapped in UU. The university authorities seemed to have gone with the Bapi faction as the minister, himself a former UU president, has a good equation with senior varsity officials.