Monday, Sep 23, 2002
Monday, Sep 23, 2002 |
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By Prafulla Das
By ordering Mr. Ramakrushna's expulsion for "anti-party activities" late on Saturday night, Mr. Patnaik has attempted to quell dissidence in the party that had come into the open in the wake of a revolt in the party's 10-member parliamentary team. Subsequent to the rebellion in New Delhi, which saw six MPs electing a new leader for the parliamentary party, the dissidents launched their `oust-Naveen' campaign at Hinjili — Mr. Patnaik's own Assembly constituency — on Friday, and announced that their campaign would end with Mr. Ramakrushna taking over as Chief Minister. Mr. Patnaik, however, expressed confidence that Mr. Ramakrushna's expulsion would not have any impact on the BJD. In fact, what had gladdened the Chief Minister's heart was the reluctance of the BJP — junior partner in the two-party coalition Government — to side with the BJD rebels both at the Centre as well as the State. BJP sources said that the party's Central leadership was not ready to side with the six rebel BJD MPs, as there was no immediate threat to the NDA Government even if they withdrew their support. The BJP State unit has also been told not to meddle in the BJD's "internal" affairs. Further, the party's central leaders were not in favour of extending any support to the dissidents, as it would send a wrong signal among their allies in other States. That Mr. Patnaik is trying to put up a brave face was evident from his speech in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, on the occasion of the launching of the Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana here on Saturday. Hinting that there was no threat to his Government, Mr. Patnaik said the BJD-BJP Government was committed to work for the all-round development of the State and would complete the task with people's cooperation. However, the monsoon session of the State Assembly, which begins tomorrow, is all set to be a crucial one for Mr. Patnaik as he may face the challenge from both the Opposition as well as the legislators who had been expelled from his party. The issues that are likely to dominate the session are the controversy over the Centre's move to privatise the National Aluminium Company, the prevailing drought situation and prolonged power cuts across the State during the past two months.
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