Even as BJD gained landslide victory by bagging 112 MLA seats in the State, the defeat of five-time legislator and Cabinet Minister Maheswar Mohanty in Puri has cast a shadow in the ruling camp. While the BJD has geared up a secret operation to know as to why Mohanty lost, winner BJP candidate Jayant Sarangi has opened a Pandora's Box against the former.
Sarangi has revealed in a meeting that most of the outgoing Puri BJD Councillors had helped him for his win as they opposed Mohanty’s autocratic approach.
Notably, Sarangi, former Puri Municipality Chairman, had quit the BJD just before the elections to join the BJP as he was not given BJD ticket to contest.
Sarangi has alleged that many Central projects like Hruday and Amrut for the municipality were illegally stopped by Mohanty as Mohanty did not want him to continue as Chairman.
Although no reaction to Sarangi’s revelation has come from the BJD, sources said a blame game has begun in the Mohanty camp on anti-party activities and a search operation is on to locate defectors.
Besides Sarangi, many other local BJD leaders, who were aspirants for party ticket, worked against Mohanty, sources said.