A day after an allegation of intraparty rift in the Athagarh unit of the BJD came to the fore, local party functionaries on Thursday stated that Avaya Barik, who led a dharna at the Panchayat Samiti office with allegations of irregularities in Government schemes, doesn’t belong to the BJD and no supporter of the MlA had hurled bombs at the dharna site. The news report was published on the front page of The Pioneer on Wednesday. Showing the news clipping at a Press meet, the Athagarh NAC block president and other local BJD leaders said, “Avaya is not a primary member of the BJD and no supporter of the MlA threw bombs at the dharna site.”
When asked to clarify as to how Avaya had been using party banners and organising party functions, the BJD leaders parried the question and said Avaya belongs to another party. When again asked as to why they didn’t lodge any complaint with their district or State leaderships, the BJD leaders said they would take up the matter with district-level leaders soon.