TV
In yet another jolt to BJD, the chairperson of Dhenkanal Sadar block, Rajashree Nayak, lost a no-confidence motion no-confidence motion brought against her, informed the election returning officer on Saturday.
The sarpanchs and samiti members of 30 panchayats, Sadar MLA, Kamakshyanagar MLA and Dhenkanal MP participated in the vote. A total of 62 voters cast their votes.
In the voting, while 44 votes were polled against the chairperson, 17 voted in her favour. And, one vote was rejected.
“A total of 62 voters participated in the voting, which was carried out as per the law. In the voting, 44 voters voted in support of the no-confidence motion, and seventeen against it. We discarded one vote as the voter marked on both. Accordingly, we announced the result,” said Litusmita Mishra, the returning officer.
“Today I observed a new thing that the minister brought the voters in his vehicle. I knew early on that we would lose the motion. Because I have never seen candidates being brought in a minister’s vehicle. When I saw that, I was sure that we were going to lose the motion,” said Sudhir Samal, a BJD leader.
Also Read: 'No Confidence' motion moved against Nilagiri BJD NAC chairperson
When contacted, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra said, “BJD is crumbling into pieces. People’s faith in BJD has started dwindling. Their organisational strength would no longer last. I have already said that due to his advancing age, the former Chief Minister is no longer able to manage the organisation. In the second generation, there is none in their party to sail the party through. This is why he was using Pandian, who was rejected by the people of the state. The BJD leaders are losing their self-confidence and believe that their party may not exist. This is why, they are switching over to BJP and we are welcoming them.”
Notably, for the time being, the vice chairman of the block, Kalandi Barik will be in charge of the chairperson post.
