That the nine ousted Ministers are an unhappy, if not disgruntled, lot in the BJD was very much evident when they did not attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Ministers at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday.
If they had happily resigned from the Ministry on their own to undertake party organisational work, they would have as cheerfully come to greet their replacements at the Governor’s House, felt political observers, adding that the reality is different.
In fact, these leaders appear to feel disgraced in public for a general impression that they were thrown out of the Ministry for corruption or inefficiency or dwindling political influence in their areas.
No wonder that the absence of the dislodged Ministers at the Raj Bhavan prompted opposition Congress and BJP to point to the growing “intraparty conflict in the BJD”.