Who decides BJD tickets? Party Supremo or Organisational Secretary?

Who plays the crucial role in deciding and allotting tickets to aspirants in the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD)? Is it the party supremo Naveen Patnaik or organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das? Questions like these are being raised after BJD leaders shared posts on their respective social media handles, extending support and praising Das.

Several BJD leaders including Sasmit Patra, MLA Souvik Biswal and Ananta Jena shared the post in which they wrote, “Pranab is such leader who gives importance to workers than his family. There was no problem for him to allot tickets to multiple family members. However, he chose to set a trend of one ticket per family.”

The social media posts don’t have the mention of BJD's former general secretary Arindam Roy, who quit the ruling party and joined BJP on Friday. It seems that the social media post was intended towards this development.

Also Read: Odisha Elections 2024: Actor Arindam Roy quits BJD, joins BJP

It is pertinent to mention here that actor Arindam Roy is the brother-in-law of Pranab Prakash Das. Roy quit BJD after expressing displeasure over the working of the party yesterday. Prior to this, Das’ uncle Bhabani Shankar Jagdev also quit BJD and joined the BJP along with Prashant Jagdev.

Senior journalist Prasanna Mohanty said, “The posts glorify Pranab Das; and, his own family members joining BJP is sending a wrong message. May be such posts have been made to protect Pranab as many things are being said about the recent developments. The post can also be interpreted in other way.”

Meanwhile, the BJD leaders could not be contacted over the matter.

(By OdishaTV Bureau)