BJP High Command Outsmarts Aparajita’s Adventures; Keeps Her Out of Core Committee

Bhubaneswar: In a major embarrassment to Bhubaneswar Member of Parliament Aparajita Sarangi, the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken a decision not to include the former bureaucrat in the fifteen member Core Committee constituted yesterday. While the list includes all important leaders of the Party from Odisha, surprisingly the name of Aparajita is missing. The list has the approval of the national president of BJP J P Nadda and will act as the highest decision making body for the party in state.

The exclusion of Aparajita may have come as a surprise for the Member of Parliament, but political circles are taking the issue as an attempt to slowdown her from her fierce out of line party activities. The state BJP seems to be taking action against the MP for not adhering to the party line in many issues and projecting herself as another power center. Interestingly, Aparajita has been seen in last many days doing activities without the consent of the state BJP. There are many instances when the rallies attended by her are avoided by her own party leaders and workers. She also faced protests against her visit to many places.

According to some party insiders who did not want to be named, the decision to keep her out of the Core Committee seems to be nothing but a warning to her. She has not been following party line in many issues. She seems to be skipping the State BJP leadership and acting on her own. With her own small support base, she is running a parallel organization inside the state BJP. Earlier also, she was said to be sidelined in key decisions taken by the Party High Command. When the last ministry reshuffle was carried out, she was expecting a berth in the union ministry but she was not accommodated. It all shows that the high command is not happy with her activities and not in a mood to give importance to her.

While Aparajita is the Member of Parliament from Bhubaneswar, she has been touring all over the state with her own supporters and organizing meetings and rallies without the consent of the state leadership. With this new core committee, the party is said to have cut her wings to limit her to her own constituency only. This becomes more important keeping in view the forthcoming Panchayat elections. The Core committee has been constituted that will formulate strategies and policies at the state level in the run up to the Panchayat elections. Political observers also say that, the decision has been taken to keep her away from the important committee, as her activities are proving to be detrimental to the party.

According to political pundits, Aparajita was indirectly projecting herself as the next chief ministerial candidate by participating and organizing statewide meetings and rallies. The BJP High Command has just indicated that there cannot be two centers of power within the party. Her detractors in the party are said to have welcomed the decision to keep her out of the Core Committee. This step is going to also keep a tab on her political ambitions in the state.