The squabbling in the ruling BJD came to the fore once againon Tuesday after party vice-president and Excise Minister Damodar Rout called MlAs Debasis Samantray and Pratap Jena and his arch rival in Jagatsinghpur politics and Rajya Sabha member Bishnu Charan Das as “ghosts” in the party.
Rout termed the three elected leaders as ghosts while recollecting about a Government programme held in Jagatsinghpur district.
“After Chief Mnister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation-stone for a canal modernisation project in Jagatsinghpur district, I was about to leave the place. But the CM called me and asked to sit in his vehicle. When I entered the Bolero vehicle, I saw three ghosts Jena, Das and Samantaray inside it,” Rout said.
“They didn’t leave an inch of space for me so that I could sit comfortably,” he said.
Rout claimed that the three have sustained in politics because of his earlier supports. “They all are in politics only for me as I had pursued them to come to politics. Now when it comes to the Cuttack politics, they are asking who I amIJ” rued said.
When asked to comment, party spokesperson Sameer Das said that if Dr Rout has any problem he should take up the same with the party supromo and not criticise party MlAs in public.