After Rourkela fiasco, BJP keen to make Vikas Utsav in Capital a success

Bhubaneswar: After the embarrassment during the the party’s Vikas Utsav in Rourkela Monday, the State unit of Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is leaving no stone unturned to put up a much better show at the event in Bhubaneswar on Friday to be attended by Union Transport minister Nitin Gadkari.

“Our preparations are going on to make the event a successful one. The party workers are excited about it,” BJP’s Odisha unit chief Basant Panda said.

The saffron party, it may be remembered, cut a sorry figure after party MLA Dilip Ray left for Kolkata hours before the biennial bash organised in the Steel City as part of the nationwide celebrations of two years of the BJP led government at the Centre complaining against the inordinate delay in upgradation of Ispat General Hospital (IGH), the premier hospital in the Steel City, into a super specialty hospital.

As if that was not embarrassment enough, the two Union Ministers - Narendra Singh Tomar and Krishna Pal Gurjar - scheduled to address the Vikas Utsav rally canceled their visit to Rourkela at the last minute ostensibly due to bad weather, a claim few are willinng to buy.

Though Gadkari is scheduled to only address the media and share the achievements of BJP government at the Centre with some intellectuals during his visit to the city, the party machinery is working overtime to make sure everything passes off smoothly.

Party insiders say the Rourkela incident was a fallout of Ray’s resentment over the way he was treated at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Balasore rally on June 2. He was also reportedly cold-shouldered on the dais and was not given a chance to speak. Besides, Ray is reportedly sore over the increasing influence of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the affairs of the State BJP.

Apprehensive that rumblings within the party over the failure to name the party leader in the Assembly could boil over during the Union minister's visit, the state leadership is going the extra mile to keep everyone in good humour.

“It is a fact that due to internal conflict, the party has not been able to name a leader to head it in the Assembly though five months have passed. It must sort out the issue soon,” said a party leader.

Sources in the BJP said the party is likely to declare the leader of the legislature party before the State executive meet on June 18. Notably BJP will hold its national executive meet at Allahabad on June 12-13.