Party dissidents lock BJP state HQ in Odisha, anger overflows

BJP dissidents angry over denial of party tickets to them continued to gherao the state party headquarters and kept its main gate locked for the second day on Saturday.

This forced the party to induct Kandhamal MP Pratyusha Rajeswar Singh at the residence of senior BJP leader K V Singhdeo during the day.

The state will witness simultaneous election to 21 Lok Sabha and 147 state assembly seats in four phases from April 11.

The BJP has so far announced candidates for 15 of the state's 21 Lok Sabha seats and 121 of 147 assembly seat.

Protests were in the beginning held by supporters of Amiya Dash who has been denied a BJP ticket from Ekamra-Bhubaneswar Assembly seat. BJP has fielded Babu Singh, who recently joined the saffron party after quitting BJD, from the constituency.

Though the supporters of Dash withdrew their agitation on Friday night, they resumed the protest before the state BJP office on Saturday. They were later joined by dissident BJP leaders from Aul, Rajnagar, Digapandi and some other places.

All the dissidents alleged that the party has promoted turncoats as candidates foe the coming polls ignoring the original workers who have been working for BJP for a long time.

Similar reports of dissidents locking the BJP district offices were received from Keonjhar, Bhadrak among other places. There were voices of protest against BJP state president Basant Kumar Panda, who has been announced the party's candidate from Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat where senior leader Pradipta Nayak was denied ticket.

Nayak has been fielded to contest from Bhawanipatna assembly seat.

The supporters of BJP leader Subhas Chouhan also burnt an effigy of Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan after the party named Suresh Pujari as its candidate from Bargarh Lok Sabha seat.

Chouhan, who had lost the Lok Sabha polls by a margin of 11,183 votes, was a strong contender for the Bargarh seat.

There was tension at the party office at Laxmipur in Koraput district as BJP workers burnt effigies of Pradhan and Koraput BJP president Jayram Pangi and ransacked it after the party gave ticket to Kumud Saunta.

The dissidents also threatened mass resignation, alleging that the party had ignored six aspirants and given ticket to someone who joined the party only two months ago.

At Bhadrak, BJP leader Dinabandhu Patis supporters locked up the party's office there against the allotting of party ticket to Madhabananda Mallick in Basudevpur Assembly seat.

There were also protests against the candidature of Dola Gobind Nayak and Alekh Jena for Aul and Rajanagar Assembly seats in Kendrapara district.

Reacting to the growing dissidence, BJP spokesman Golak Mohapatra said "This shows BJP is gaining popularity. Never before there was such craze for BJP tickets."
State BJP president Basant Kumar Panda said "We are a democratic party. Therefore, people raise their voices. We will resolve the issue through discussion."