Bhubaneswar: Amid the fierce internal conflict in the opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) over the sudden shift in party’s stance on the Waqf (Amendment) bill, 2025 (now an Act following presidential assent) and on the role played by former bureaucrat V.K. Pandian regarding party’s U-turn, BJD president and Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday finally broke his silence and cautioned the leaders against criticising Pandian.
Speaking to mediapersons, LoP Patnaik said: “I also want to state quite clearly that Kartikeyan Pandian, in the past, has done a lot of good work not only for the state but for the party. So, he shouldn’t be criticised or blamed for anything. Also, he left the party more than 10 months ago and is not involved in any of the party’s work.”
The former Chief Minister also expressed his strong displeasure over the recent meetings by party leaders in hotels and other places that further added fuel to the internal conflict.
He advised all to hold their meetings at the party headquarters or ‘Sankha Bhawan’ here.
“I would like to state here that I disapprove of any quite large meetings in hotels held by party members. They have the party office ‘Sankha Bhawan’, which is a large building where they have been told they should hold their meetings and they should do so,” added Patnaik.
Reacting on the criticism of Pandian by former MLA Pravat Tripathy, Patnaik said: “I also want to state here quite clearly that Pravat Tripathy, ex-MLA, was expelled from the BJD some years ago because he was indicted in the chit-fund case and has spent some years in jail. I want to clarify again that he doesn’t belong to the party.”
Several senior BJD leaders including Pratap Keshari Deb , Pratap Jena, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, etc. when the BJD supremo made the statement on Wednesday.
The party leaders later told the media persons that the party is united and everyone will work under the leadership of Ex-CM and LoP Patnaik.
Notably, the BJD party had earlier declared to oppose the controversial Waqf bill in Rajya Sabha. However, later senior BJD leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra in a surprising twist declared that the party had not issued any whip and the MPs were free to vote on the bill as per their conscience.
This irked many party leaders triggering a fierce internal turmoil for the past couple of days.
Interestingly, the party president during his statement given to media persons on Wednesday did not make any comment on the demands by the disgruntled leaders to take action against persons responsible for the party’s flipflop on Waqf Act.
–IANS
