As expected, dissident activities in the ruling BJD came to fore in Cuttack on Friday soon after the party tickets were distributed for the February 6 Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) elections.
The dissenting bustle was so intent that it not only saw many BJD workers defying the party diktat jumped into the poll fray as Independent candidates, the flurry led to a criminal act when the house of BJD Cuttack-Choudwar MlA Pravat Ranjan Biswal was ransacked and his younger brother was assaulted.
The development recorded the first poll-related violence in the city in which two FIRs were registered, including one against the MlA's brother Arta Ranjan Biswal. The police, as usual, are pussyfooting around the allegations and counter-allegations to avoid upsetting their political bosses.
“We have registered two cases over the incidents and investigations are in progress,” said Chauliaganj police station inspector Sriprasanna Mallick, adding that no one was arrested in this connection yet. City DCP S Praveen Kumar, who visited the house of the MlA at Mahanadi Vihar, is supervising the cases.
Hundreds of women in the morning gathered in and around the house of MlA Biswal to ask him whether a popular BJD worker of Ward-42 was getting the party ticket for the CMC poll or not.
“During the discussions, a commotion took place between a group of agitated women and the MlA's brother, which turned violent,” said an eyewitness, stating that only glass furniture in the MlA's drawing room was broken when the MlA's brother fell on it.
The MlA's brother, however, in his FIR has complained that he was threatened of dire consequences by the unruly mob brandishing revolvers.
Dissident activities in the BJD also came out in the open elsewhere in the city when as many as six BJD leaders filed nomination papers on the day as Independent candidates after they were denied party tickets.
Trying to fish in this troubled water of the BJD politics, the Congress is hopeful to take mileage out of the BJD intra-party rumblings. “We definitely stand to gain from it. Dissidence in the ruling party camp will definitely suit us,” said City Congress president Md Moqim.
Ends