post news network
Bhubaneswar, June 5: The defeat of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) bypoll has brought the infighting within the party to the fore.
Leaders have been criticising one another and indulging in mud slinging, even as a sense of despair prevailed in the ruling party after the Opposition Congress Saturday grabbed the corporator’s post of ward 21 here from the BJD in a by-election.
Shortly after the defeat, BJD vice-president and cooperation minister Damodar Rout said the wrong decision of the ruling party caused the loss in the bypoll to ward 21 in Cuttack.
Rout said former Cuttack mayor Anita Behera from ward 21 was innocent but was asked to resign. This, he said, was the reason for the BJD losing the poll battle in that ward.
Rout also defied Chief Minister and party president Naveen Patnaik’s whip asking all leaders to restrain themselves from speaking about party affairs in public. The BJD vice-president criticised BJD Barabati-Cuttack MLA Debashish Samantaray, a resident of ward 21, for the party’s defeat in the by-poll. Rout questioned Samantray’s political ability. Samantray and the MLA from Cuttack-Choudwar, Pravat Biswal, criticised Rout for interfering in Cuttack politics. “He should concentrate and think about his own constituency,” Biswal said.
The Choudwar MLA also accused the Paradip leader of maintaining double standards saying Rout is often known for doing a volte face after making comments.