Bhubaneswar: Some youth leaders and party workers of Naveen Patnaik-led BJD raised slogans against prominent party leaders including bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian, Rajya Sabha MPs Manas Mangaraj and Sasmit Patra at BJD headquarters Sankha Bhawan in Bhubaneswar, a source said Saturday.
According to the source, as many as 25 young party workers Friday raised slogans against Pandian, Mangaraj and Patra blaming them for the party’s dismal performance in the recently concluded simultaneous elections.
The source added that the protesters warned they would escalate their demonstrations and hold protests at the leaders’ residences if no action is taken against them within 48 hours.
Afterwards, BJD’s organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das attempted to pacify the workers by assuring them that party president Naveen Patnaik would soon take a decision on the issue.
Das further informed the protesters about the formation of a committee, chaired by senior leader Prasanna Acharya, to review the reasons behind the party’s defeat at the hands of BJP.
Notably, a couple of days after BJD’s defeat in Odisha Assembly elections, several pictures and videos of party leader VK Pandian surfaced on social media where the IAS-turned-politician could be seen sitting inside a Vistara flight and walking with a trolley bag in his hand at an airport.
Subsequently, netizens had claimed that Naveen Patnaik’s close confidante Pandian left Odisha and flew to New Delhi after the crushing defeat of the BJD.
Later, Sasmit Patra held a press conference and clarified that Pandian had gone to Delhi on instructions of party chief Naveen Patnaik.
The source informed that some protestors were also upset with Patra defending Pandian’s Delhi visit even after the crushing defeat.
PNN
