Bhubaneswar: As the electoral race to Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Odisha reaches fever pitch, unabated exodus of leaders from BJD continues to mount up more worries for the ruling-party.
While several leaders of BJD, disgruntled over denial of poll tickets, are resigning from the party, dissidence also continues to spill on to street.
On Thursday, former Jajpur MP Mohan Jena quit from the primary membership of BJD citing displeasure for being denied ticket for upcoming 2019 elections. Jena tendered his resignation to party supremo Naveen Patnaik in which he spewed venom against the party leadership.
The former parliamentarian said that despite being such a staunch admirer of Biju Patnaik, CM Naveen and dedicated leader of the party since last 26 years, he was sidelined by other leaders of the party.
"In 2014, Kalpataru Das conspired to deny me ticket for his personal benefit. Since last five years, I have had to suffer harrasment within the party. I have been forced to leave BJD and the party has lost the basics of being a political party. There is no internal democracy in BJD as a particular IAS officer & his close aides have taken over the party affairs," Jena said.
Similarly, protesting the autocratic behaviour of sitting Puri MLA and Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Maheswar Mohanty, former Chairperson of Puri Municipality, Jayant Sarangi on Thursday resigned from the ruling BJD.
Rift within the party's Jatni Assembly constituency also came to fore on Thursday with supporters of former MLA Bibhuti Bhusan Balabantaray and another group clashing over ticket selection in front of Naveen Niwas.
In another incident, some members of BJD also staged a demonstration in front of the Chief Minister's residence protesting party’s sitting MLA from Chhendipada, Sushant Kumar Behera for making startling revelations about the ticket allotment process in the party.
However, the BJD is yet to comment on the matter.