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BJD communicates leadership change to Naveen

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 18. The six rebel parliamentary party members of the Biju Janata Dal today formally communicated the ``change of leadership'' to the party chief and Orissa Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, while continuing with their informal "strategy sessions'' in the Capital.

A day after the formal announcement of electing Prasanna Acharya as the new leader of the Lok Sabha in place of the Union Minister, Arjun Charan Sethi, the MPs met in groups to draw up the strategy for the battle ahead.

Having carried out the toppling plan, the rebel BJD MPs were waiting for the party leadership to make the next move since they were now in a majority in the Lok Sabha. The BJD has 10-members in the Lok Sabha and four in the Rajya Sabha.

Although in their communication to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi, on Tuesday, the rebel MPs did not seek recognition as a separate group, the move is being seen by party observers as a strategy.

The rebel leaders maintained that they took the decision to replace Mr. Sethi as the party leader out of ``utmost pain and anguish,'' since he was not giving voice to Orissa's cause in the National Democratic Alliance meetings of the Cabinet. They had claimed that yesterday's parliamentary party meeting was duly ``requisitioned.'' They had asked Mr. Sethi to convene a meeting on two days, August 7 and 13. Having received no response, they requisitioned the meeting on September 17 after issuing notice to the members on September 2, thereby adhering to the 15-day notice period.

There were reports that at least some of these rebel MPs could move across to a like-minded party such as the Janata Dal (United), headed by the Union Minister, Sharad Yadav. However, at least two rebel MPs dismissed the reports.

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