Bargarh: The political climate in Bargarh, which had cooled off after the Bijepur by-poll, is now witnessing sore temperatures as speculations are rife about no-trust motion against the Zilla Parishad chief.
Sources said some members of the ZP have been planning to bring a ‘no confidence’ motion against the chairperson of the Zilla Parishad.
What has added to the grapevine is the alleged disappearance of 18 members of the ZP at a time when fate of the ZP hangs fire.
There are 34 Zilla Parishad seats in Bargarh district including one chairperson and 33 members. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 25 of the total 34 seats in the three-tier panchayat polls in 2017 and with that it bagged the chairperson post too.
While the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) could win only nine seats, it was the Congress which faced a whitewash.
Unaccounted absence and kidnapping of political leaders is nothing new in politics. The dramatic disappearance, alleged kidnapping and surprise reappearance of nine Zilla Parishad members of Bargarh seem to have added a new twist to the hide and seek game between the BJP and BJD over the ZP chairperson post.
Both the BJP and BJD are in a mud-slinging mode and accusing each other. The Saffron party has alleged that the BJD is trying to divide the unit by luring the nine ZP members.
Saturday night, Balaram Bhoi and Manoranjan Bhue, husbands of two ZP members— Parbati Bhoi and Sushma Bhue— separately lodged complaints with the district superintendent of police (SP) Padmini Sahoo, alleging that their wives had gone missing. They said that the two ZP members were kept in a secret location following the direction of a frontline leader of the BJD.
On the other hand, smelling conspiracy behind the decision of the ZP members to embrace the conch party, the BJP has alleged involvement of a BJD minister and slapped show-cause notices on six members of their party, seeking their answers on why their membership should not be rejected.
While the ZP members are reportedly mulling to bring a no-confidence motion against the sitting chairperson of the Zilla Parishad, on the other hand, the BJP is planning to move the Election Commission against its nine ZP members.
Notably, of the 18 disappeared ZP members, nine belong to BJP and the rest to BJD.
“The nine Zilla Parishad members won on BJP tickets and hence, it is now a fitting case violating anti-defection law. We will move the State Election Commission over the matter soon,” BJP’s Pradip Purohit said.
When ZP chairperson Mukta Sahoo was asked in this regard, she replied, “I will respect the decision of our party and members.”
PNN