A BJP Ganjam district executive meeting was held at Chhatrapur on Wednesday to take stock of the party’s preparations for the panchayat elections. Chairing the meeting, party State president Basanta Panda urged party workers and leaders to fight united to defeat the ruling BJD.
However, most significantly, the party’s most prominent leader of the Chhatrapur Assembly constituency and former local MlA and
former Assembly Deputy Speaker Rama Chandra Panda was conspicuously absent at the
crucial meeting.
Sources said the organisers had informed Panda about the meeting barely 24 hours before it took place.
When contacted, Panda declined to comment on the matter. Sources said Panda was in Bhubaneswar on the very day due to the health problem of a close relative. Some workers raised the issue at the meeting to the embarrassment of the party leaders.
Among others, BJP general secretary Golak Mahapatra and State organising secretary Sarada Satapathy were present at the meeting.