Bijay to quit BJP or to be thrown out!

Bijay Mohapatra continues to fight against the State leadership of his own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), especially Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He seems determined to carry on his mission till he leaves the party on his own or is dislodged from it.

Mohapatra, who obviously considers himself as greater than any other BJP leader in the State, was in war with the leadership on two issues on Sunday, both aimed against Pradhan.

Mohapatra kept away from a meeting in his native Kendrapada district where Pradhan welcomed many leaders of the Congress and the BJD who opted for and joined the BJP. He alleged that he was not intimated either by BJP State president Basanta Panda or by Pradhan to the party event.

But BJP State general secretary Prithwiraj Harihandan, however, denied Mohapatra’s allegation saying that Mohapatra, who is a BJP national executive member, was informed about the meeting through proper channel.

Along with Mohapatra, his supporters among the Kendrapada district party office-bearers including president Sukanta Dwivedy also boycotted the meeting.

On the other hand, Pradhan was accorded a rousing welcome by party cadres in Kendrapada before two district leaders former MlAs Utkal Keshari Parida and Dolagobida Nayak joined the BJP in his presence. Parida was in the NCP and Nayak in the Congress.

And on the day, Mohapatra again raised his allegation of local people not being employed in the Indian Oil Corporation limited’s (IOCl) Paradip Refinery. Though apparently, the issue was directed against Pradhan, who is the Union Petroleum Minister, Mohapatra took the plea that he did not target anyone but only pointed out that people of Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts are not getting jobs in the refinery.

More importantly, Mohapatra accused the BJP State leaders of acting as “IOCl agents” by arguing that the IOCl has employed satisfactory numbers of locals in the refinery. Mohapatra made the allegation in reference to a recent Press conference at which BJP spokespersons had countered his first statement on the IOCl job issue.