Bhanjanagar: Factional feuds have been growing among the rank and file of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in some parts of Belaguntha NAC area and Sorada in Ganjam district. The members of the ruling party are reportedly split into different warring groups over deprivation of various facilities. Some BJD workers have openly alleged that they are being sidelined by top leaders while many other workers are silently disgruntled. Scores of grassroots workers and leaders from other parties have joined the BJD at different times.
However, some local BJD leaders were not kept in the loop when the crossover happened. This has led to internal bickering between the old BJD leaders and neophytes in Belaguntha area. In the civic body polls, the ruling party achieved electoral success in all the 13 wards of the NAC and bagged the post of chairperson. Hence, there is no protesting voice at the NAC meetings. But several complaints have come against the way the NAC functions.
A group of BJD workers alleged that most of the allegations against the NAC are prompted by a BJD leader. Bibhupada Jena, BJD’s youth leader and samiti member from Gobara panchayat alleged on several occasions that developmental works in his panchayat have been neglected. Here is another case. Chandra Sekhar Nayak is a BJD leader of Gobara panchayat.
However, he had decided to contest for the post of director in the election to the Aska Central Cooperative Bank by going against the party-backed nominee. Even though he withdrew his nomination, he had become a source of headache to some party leaders. He enjoys clout in some areas and has got many leaders elected as directors and presidents of cooperative societies. Block BJD president S Rameswar Patra said that the party as a family has ‘difference of opinions’, but then it is always sorted out.
