Bhubaneswar: It seems that the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party in Odisha is still grappling with internal tussles and infighting among its various factions. A few months back before the elections, there was squabbling for tickets both for the Lok Sabha and the Assembly Elections. Then there were allegations that the dissidents played spoilsport the wining ability in many assembly segments. After the election results declared there was a competition among senior leaders over the position of Leader of the Legislature Party who would eventually become the Leader Of Opposition.
The state leaders could not elect the LoP and the central leadership had to intervene. Party President Amit Saha nominated Bhawanipatna legislator Pradipta Nayak as the leader of the legislature party. It came as a rude shock to many leaders in the state as Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayan Mishra was a strong contender for the post.
It looks like the issue has not yet die down and simmering in the Odisha BJP. On Friday Jayanarayana once again made some revelations which fueled the infighting to the next level. Venting his annoyance on the issue of election for the position of Leader of Opposition, Jayanarayana has said that “the central leadership had given hints to make me the Leader and I had also started work on it a month ago. All legislators were supporting my candidature, but at the last moment the decision changed.”
Countering Jayanarana, Pradipta Naik today said that the central team was entrusted with the selection of the Leadership position and all MLA’s had supported the decision , so it is not right to raise the issue now.
Pradipta also said that, I have been given the duty to counter the state government wherever necessary. Our duty is to find the mistakes of the government. Leaders should work for the development of the party. Nobody is told about the positions they would be given. So, there is nothing to resent. All legislators did not support him (Jayanarayana), some of them also wanted me to be the LoP. There is no fixing and the central leadership took the decision.