Appointment of district presidents, a bigger problem for BJD

At a time when the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is struggling with infighting, it is facing problems in appointing new district presidents in place of five presidents who resigned recently. 

According to sources, Balasore’s district president Rabindra Jena, Dhenkanal’s Prafulla Mallick, Rourkela’s Sarada Nayak, Koraput’s Ishwar Panigrahi and Jagatsinghpur’s Prashant Muduli have resigned. At the same time, after the deaths of Kishore Mohanty and Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha, the president posts of Jharsuguda and Bargarh districts are lying vacant. The conch party is said to be having trouble in making appointments of fresh presidents. 

In this regard, when asked,  BJD leader Rabindra Jena parried the question saying it as party’s internal affair it shouldn’t be discussed. 

“He is the observer of Khordha district. As it is the Election year, he has a huge responsibility of the district. He may have reigned due to some personal problems,” said BJD MLA Parshuram Dhada. 

When asked, Labour Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak said, “The Chief Minister is the president of our party. He will take the final call regarding any appointment.”

At the same time, the political equation has witnessed a sea change in Sambalpur following the ouster of Rahit Pujari from the Chief Minister’s Council of Ministers. Meanwhile, names Bhatli MLA Sushant Singh, Jharsuguda MLA Dipali Das and Kuchinda MLA Kishore Nayak are cropping up as the next higher education minister. 

“Infighting with respect to the appointment of district presidents is in each and every district and it will escalate because the election is approaching.  Since the higher education department is an important department, it needs a minister. He may choose a district to balance the infighting,” said senior journalist Rabi Das.