Puri: Infighting among Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders in Satyabadi Assembly segment has been intensifying each passing day ahead of the Assembly elections next year.
Satyabadi MLA Umakanta Samantray and former chairperson of Puri municipality Jayanta Sarangi have been at loggerheads to gain prominence in the Assembly segment.
Samantray was elected as an independent MLA from Satyabadi in 2014 polls. However, he joined the ruling BJD later and led the party during the 2017 panchayat elections.
Opposing Samantray’s entry into BJD, Ramaranjan Baliarsingh, who had unsuccessfully contested from Satyabadi in 2014, left the ruling party. However, the infighting among BJD leaders in the Assembly segment did not end there.
Sarangi, a native of Satyabadi area, has been participating in various meetings and programmes in the constituency for last several months. Grapevines have it that many BJD workers of Satyabadi area, who are opposing Samantray, have showed their allegiance to Sarangi.
Recently, Sarangi participated in a padayatra (mass connect programme), organised by BJD Kanas block president Sushil Rout at Dokanda ground. Party’s Satyabadi block president Ratikanta Mishra was also present at the event.
In the meeting, both Rout and Mishra came down heavily on Samantray accusing him of creating faction among the villagers. The duo also warned that they would oppose Samantray in the coming Assembly polls.
Speaking at the event, Sarangi openly expressed his willingness to contest from Satyabadi in the upcoming Assembly elections. He claimed that he has informed this to the BJD leadership. “I was happy in Puri. BJD workers and common people invited me to come to Satyabadi, my native place. I have decided to remain with the people of Satyabadi. I have been with BJD for more than two decades and would abide with the party leadership’s decision,” he said.
Sarangi, however, claimed that some people, who had opposed BJD and its leader Naveen Patnaik in the past, are now leading the party in Satyabadi.
Taking a potshot at Sarangi, Samantray said a substantial number of Bharatiya Janata Party activists were present at Sarangi’s meeting. “I am now in Mayurbhanj to campaign for BJD in a zilla parishad bypoll. Party leadership would take appropriate steps against people who are causing indiscipline in BJD. I would urge party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take action against Kanas and Satyabadi block BJD presidents,” he added.