Kujang: The expelled BJD leader Damodar Rout might have vowed to defeat all four BJD candidates in Jagatsinghpur, but his own edifices at Paradip and Kujang have started crumbling.
The recent meeting at the party office in Bhubaneswar in the presence of BJD leaders and workers from Paradip, party-backed sarpanchs and members of panchayat samiti has proved that Rout’s followers, including his close aides, have started leaving him.
Hours after holding a meeting at the behest of the Chief Minister at the party office in Bhubaneswar Monday, leaders and workers from Paradip constituency congregated at MP Kulamani Samal’s residence to finalise a mega convention at the Kujang block ground September 30. The meeting was presided over by Paradip Municipality BJD chairman Sumant Biswal.
While the participation of Rout’s followers in the Monday meeting has left many perplexed, five sarpanchs, three samiti members, Kujang block BJD chairman and Kujang panchayat samiti chairman were absent.
Paradip Municipality chairman Basant Kumar Biswal, former chairman of Kujang Narendra Kumar Parida, former Zilla Parishad chairperson Sabita Mohapatra, Sangram Mantri, Kailash Sarangi, Sanjay Kumar Behera, Sanjay Kumar Swain, Ranjit Panda and former vice chairman of Kujang block Praksh Parida have also attended the meet.
Notably, Rout, who made Kulamani the chairman of Kujang Mahotsav, later named him the chairman of Kujang Jagannath Temple’s board of management committee.
Rout was the one who proposed Kulamani’s name for an MP ticket to the Chief Minister.
But after Rout’s expulsion from BJD, Kulamani and his supporters have deserted the former, indicating that the party is their main priority.
Meanwhile, Rout is reported to be visiting Kujang Tuesday.
PNN