TV
Cracks within the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) seem to be widening, with senior legislator Ranendra Pratap Swain indirectly mocking VK Pandian during a public event in Athagarh on Sunday.
According to reports, while addressing a gathering, Swain made a sharp but subtle reference to Pandian’s recent remark, “I am down but not out,” which the latter had made a couple of days ago when party supremo Naveen Patnaik was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar.
Though Swain did not name Pandian directly, his words, laced with sarcasm and accompanied by a smile, drew attention from both party insiders and political observers.
In his speech, Swain also spoke about ‘going against the current’ and questioned whether an elected representative’s role should be limited to merely seeking votes. The insinuations, delivered from the dais of a BJD event, are being seen as a rare instance of a senior leader publicly signalling discontent within the party ranks.
“Democracy is a movement of the people and for the people. It is meant for the welfare of the poor. Being an MLA alone is not enough. Merely asking for votes is not enough. Some are claiming that they are down but not out. However, have they attended to the people?” asked Swain to the attending crowd.
Notably, neither Pandian nor the BJD leadership has issued any response to Swain’s remarks so far.
Growing Unease After Samantaray’s Broadside
Swain’s comments come barely a day after another senior BJD leader, Rajya Sabha MP Debashish Samantaray, launched a frontal attack on VK Pandian.
In a newspaper interview, Samantaray accused Pandian of committing a “serious mistake” by keeping Naveen Patnaik’s health condition under wraps, alleging that both party workers and the people of Odisha were kept in the dark until the BJD supremo was admitted to hospital.
Samantaray even went on to allege that Naveen Patnaik was effectively under house arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic, a charge that has stirred unease within the party and raised eyebrows across the political spectrum.
The back-to-back remarks by two senior leaders, one a veteran MLA and the other a sitting MP, against Pandian mark an unusual public rift in a party known for its centralised leadership under Naveen Patnaik.
