Bhubaneswar, Aug 10: Having witnessed several upheavals during its less-than-five-year existence, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Orissa has plunged into yet another turmoil, with the resignation of some state ministers and suspension of some party leaders.
Differences within the party came to the fore when the former finance minister Ramkrushna Patnaik resigned from the ministry on Tuesday last setting off speculations that the fall-out could have an impact on the BJD parliamentary party.
The Chief Minister and party president, Naveen Patnaik, who has shown swiftness in striking at leaders whom he perceived as troublesome, promptly suspended three of the 10 Lok Sabha MPs yesterday triggering yet another crisis in the regional outfit. The suspended MPs, Prabhat Samantaray, Jagannath Mallick and Kumudini Patnaik, hit back by dubbing the party chief as an autocrat and dropping hints that they might decide against voting for the NDA's vice-presidential candidate Bhairon Singh Sekhawat.
The three MPs, party sources here alleged, were planning to split the parliamentary party which could have embarrassed the Chief Minister.
Kumudini Patnaik, one of the suspended MPs, is the wife of Ramkrushna Patnaik who quit the cabinet alleging that induction of tainted persons into the ministry during Tuesday's expansion had lowered the image of the party in public perception.
Bureau Report