Nayagarh: Fissures have started appearing in the Nayagarh unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as two senior women leaders are invariably engaged in a bitter tug of war. The two women politicians in question are senior leader Irani Ray and former Kandhamal MP Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh. The two are leaving no stone unturned to outwit each other and are flexing their muscles to assert their control in the party. The matter came to the fore after the two leaders conducted separate party meetings October 31. While Pratyusha conducted a merger meeting of other party workers, Irani wasted no time and called the party workers for a meeting the same day. This is indicative of the infighting gripping the party.
Speculations are rife as to who would get the party ticket to contest the polls from Nayagarh Assembly segment in the 2024 elections. Irani Ray had contested as a BJP candidate from the Nayagarh Assembly segment in the 2019 polls but was defeated. Later, Pratyusha had left the BJD and joined the BJP. Irani’s supporters claim that she will definitely get the party ticket but Pratyusha’s supporters claim that it is her turn now to contest in the 2024 elections.They said that Irani has to support them this time as they had supported her in the 2019 elections. This has only cheered up the ruling BJD leaders as they were seen concentrating on villages to garner support. In a bid to increase his vote share, BJD MLA from Nayagarh, Arun Sahoo, recently had a show of strength as he participated in two padayatras in Nayagarh and Odagaon blocks.
Sources said the royal scion of Nayagarh Hemendra Kumar Singh was initially in the Congress. Later, he joined the ruling BJD and became the MP from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha segment. However, after his death, his wife Pratyusha contested the bypoll from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha segment and was elected as the MP. However, she joined the BJP after the BJD denied her a ticket in the 2019 elections. On the other hand, Irani received the BJP ticket to contest from the Nayagarh Assembly segment in 2019. Irani’s husband Lala Manoj Ray is the president of BJP’s Nayagarh district unit. Irani, however, lost the elections to BJD’s Arun Sahoo in 2019. Pratyusha then did not demand a ticket for her in the 2019 elections. With the 2024 polls approaching, Pratyusha is now moving from villages to villages under the Nayagarh Assembly segment and strengthening her base among the voters.
However, the two senior women leaders holding parallel meeting October 31 has altered the situation. Irani conducted a meeting of Balugaon zone of the party at Nayagarh which was attended by BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra, October 31. The same day, Pratyusha displayed her strength by conducting a merger meeting at Sakeri panchayat under Zilla Parishad zone no-2 of Odagaon block. The parallel meetings by the two senior women leaders on the same day only ripped open the fissures prevailing in the saffron party. Later, Irani again conducted a workers’ meeting at Bhadikila under Odagaon block, November 12.
Earlier, the two were jointly seen at party meetings but now they are working separately. BJP spokesperson Patra also attended the Bhadikila meeting and indirectly confirmed it is Irani who is going get the party ticket in 2024. Patra said that Irani is a good organiser building up the party organisation from the core. If her work is any indication then she is surely going to become the MLA in 2024 elections. Political analysts feel that Patra’s support to Irani might cost Pratyusha dearly. Meanwhile, speculations are rife that the party leaders might take disciplinary action against Pratyusha for breaching the discipline in the party. When contacted, BJP’s district president Lala Manoj Ray said that there is no opposition against anybody for becoming a candidate and everybody is entitled to strengthen the party organisation.
However, conducting a merger meeting without informing the district president and not submitting a list of the persons joining the party to him amounts to indiscipline. He said that the state president of the party has been informed about Pratyusha’s activities and he will have the final say in this regard. Pratyusha ruled out creating any disturbances in the party. She said that she was assured of a party ticket in 2024 election when she joined BJP in 2019. She said that Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Irani Ray and district president Lala Manoj Ray were present in the merger meeting. She is not creating any fissures but strengthening the party organization, she reiterated. Irani Ray said that the charge of building the BJP organisation in the Nayagarh Assembly segment rests with her. The party ticket will not go to the person who makes a self-declaration of his/her candidature. One who receives the party ticket will become the candidate, she added.