BJD Jagatsinghpur district president and former Minister Bishnu Das on Wednesday demanded removal of Damodar Rout from the Naveen Patnaik Cabinet as well as from
the post of party vice-president for his alleged
anti-party activity.
Das, who is a sworn enemy of Dr Rout in the Jagatsinghpur BJD politics, termed the Minister as a Congress and BJP agent, for which he is encouraging incidents of egg pelting at Ministers across the State.
Das’ statement came in the wake of the continuing mudslinging between Dr Rout and BJD MlA Debashis Samantaray at a personal level. Das considered Rout’s utterances as damaging for the party’s image.
Political observers wonder whether party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would intervene to end the unsavoury intra-party squabbles.