Simmering discontent comes to fore in BJP camp

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR, NOV. 24. Cracks in the Bharatiya Janata Party's Orissa unit have finally shown up with the differences between its leaders coming to the fore after the party's recent organisational polls and reconstitution of the State executive committee by the newly elected president and Rajya Sabha MP, Mr. Manmohan Samal.

While Mr. Samal's supporters feel that he had been successful in cornering the so called dissidents, those not happy with the list feel that Mr. Samal's selection of office-bearers and members of the executive committee had shown the existence of factionalism in the party.

The dissidents are unhappy as Mr. Samal has chosen a team of his own choice as he is said to be having the popular support in the party. His detractors wanted to see that some of them were accommodated in the new committee. They could succeed in their attempt only if the Central leadership asks Mr. Samal to accommodate a few of them.

Mr. Samal's main adversary, the Lok Sabha MP from Balasore, Mr. Kharavela Swain, had already offered to resign from the new Committee demanding that the new president should come out with a ``rational'' list.

Mr. Swain, who was a vice-president in the previous executive committee, was a contender for the post of president of the party's State unit and had even filed his nomination papers. However, he withdrew his papers in the last minute after the intervention of the senior party leader and the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani.

Mr. Samal's detractors also allege that he had not even consulted senior leaders who were now Ministers in the BJD- BJP alliance Government in the State, before announcing the names of 14 office-bearers and 45 members of the executive committee on November 17.

A senior leader who had been dropped from the committee alleged that Mr. Samal had accommodated his own men. ``Internal democracy was a still a far cry in the party,'' he said on condition of anonymity.

According to political observers, Mr. Samal had not only settled a score with Mr. Swain but with the help of his RSS mentors, he sidelined Mr. Shyamananda Mahapatra, a former vice- president, by keeping him out of the list.

Mr. Samal had also managed to marginalise Berhampur MP, Mr. Anadi Sahu, Bolangir MP, Ms. Sangeeta Singhdeo, and Mayurbhanj MP, Mr. Salkhan Murmu. Mr. Sahu, who was a vice- president in the last committee, had been made a simple member. Ms. Singhdeo and Mr. Murmu, who were members of the last executive committee, had been dropped.

The rift between the two camps has reached such a level that the differences could be sorted out only if the Central leaders intervened in the matter. In the prevailing situation, the first meeting of the new executive committee slated for December 2, is expected to be a stormy one. It is said if the Central leadership of the party failed to sort out the problem, the party might face further embarrassment.

If Mr. Samal's supporters are to be taken seriously, the dissidents might lose the war with Mr. Samal if he manages to put up a brave front on the December 2 meeting. His supporters are also striving to see that the dissidents are silenced within a short time without Mr. Samal inducting any of them in the new committee.

In fact, in the recent past, the party was attempting to put its house in order after a few of its prominent leaders joined the newly formed political forum, Orissa Gana Parishad. The party might take a long time to strengthen its organisation at the grassroots level if the internal bickerings did not end soon.

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