Senior BJP leader and Nuapada MlA Basant Panda was on Friday unanimously elected the BJP legislature Party (BJPlP) leader, Union Minister for Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar, who had come here to oversee the election, said.
However, the absence of former Union Minister and party MlA of Rourkela Dillip Ray at the BJPlP meeting set tongues wagging even though Javadekar clarified that Ray had informed him that he would not be able to attend the meeting due to certain engagements. Ray was tipped as one of the contenders for the post.
“Out of the 10 MlAs, nine attended the meeting and unanimously chose Basant Panda as their leader. When I asked if is there was any second name, no one proposed any name except Panda,” Javadekar told a Press conference.
Panda said the BJP would forcefully raise a host of issues, including the chit fund and mining scams, distress sale of paddy and large-scale migration of people outside the State, in the Assembly.