BJD leader advocates for seniors to ‘distance’ themselves from party frontlines

Following the recent poll debacle and the party’s setbacks, senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Ashok Panda seemingly targeted the frontline leaders of the party, suggesting they distance themselves from the party in order to bolster it by giving others a chance at leadership.

To explain his point, Panda took the example of the legend of Dharmapada, the 12-year-old son of Bishu Maharana, who according to cultural beliefs, sacrificed himself to save 12,000 workers and his father during the construction of the Konark Sun Temple.

Ashok Panda stated that to empower Naveen Patnaik some senior party leaders need to step aside and guide decision-making from a ‘distance’.

“If we (BJD) want to keep Naveen Patnaik in power then we will have to sacrifice something. We can observe from a distance whether our members are working as per expectations. It will strengthen Naveen Patnaik as well as BJD,” stated Panda in his interaction with the media on the occasion of Holi.

In the same talks, the BJD leader also emphasized that overcoming internal differences and uniting would strengthen the party. He also mentioned that he had proposed this idea at Shankha Bhavan.

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Meanwhile, reacting to this, senior BJD leader Sanjay Das Burma stated that Ashok Panda’s views were personal but acknowledged that the party was going through a challenging phase.
“We need a good balance of experience and young leadership to help the party move forward in these difficult times. Unity of party cadres is important,” said Das Burma.

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The comments from these senior BJD leaders come at a time when open rivalry and public dispute between some BJD legislators has come to the spotlight along with sightings of a few BJD leaders attending functions with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seniors.