Supporters of Bishnu and Rajashree daggers drawn
Two groups of BJD workers clashed near the Tarpur bypass in the district ahead of a Mahila Samavesh (women’s convention) organised by the party at Kujang on Sunday apparently to weaken the support base of Paradip MLA Damodar Rout, who was expelled from the party recently.
The incident took place when some supporters of party’s Jagatsinghpur district president Bishnu Das shouted slogans against Tirtol MLA Rajashree Mallick.
Sources said supporters of MLA Mallick along with BJD district observer Prafulla Samal, Minister Pratap Jena and MLA Prashant Muduli were going in a procession to the Mahila Samavesh. Midway, supporters of Bishnu Das, shouting slogans ‘Rajashree Hatao, Tirtol Banchao,’ accosted Mallick’s supporters and levelled various allegations against her.
This led to a scuffle between the two groups. However, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
On other hand, as Bishnu Das was not allegedly invited to the Mahila Samavesh organised by Mallick, Das’s supporters organised a parallel meeting at Jagatsinghpur.
Later, BJD Mahila Morcha secretary Kanakprabha Lenka said there is no intra-party feud in Jagatsinghpur district and all party activities are being carried out as per the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.