In a major setback to the BJD, social activist linkan Subuddhi, the candidate personally chosen by party supremo Naveen Patnaik, lost the election to a BJD rebel candidate Monalisa Sahoo in Ward 8 in the BMC polls.
Subuddhi held Health and Family Welfare Minister and senior party leader Damodar Rout, Bubaneswar North MlA Bhagirathi Badajena, under whose Assembly constituency Ward 8 falls, and former BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena responsible for her defeat. “In reality, the trio did not want me to contest the polls. They hatched a conspiracy resulting in my defeat,” said Subuddhi. But she said she would continue to serve the party.
“I had met MlA Bhagirathi Badajena first after getting an offer from the BJD to contest. He congratulated and assured me of all supports. But despite my repeated appeals, he never came for campaigning for me except the day when the Chief Minister visited the ward,” rued Subuddhi, adding that Minister Rout also joined the MlA and the former Mayor for the sake of Rout's daughter Preetinanda Routray, who won from Ward-6 on BJD ticket.
But strongly refuting Subuddhi's allegation, Rout said he had no role in her defeat. “Even, I did not campaign for my daughter. She (Subuddhi) better knows on what basis she is alleging,” said Rout, adding that giving a party ticket to her was a blunder.
The social activist hit the headlines after being attacked by relatives of a teenage girl for opposing the girl's marriage to a middle-aged man in Noida near Delhi.