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15 rebel MLAs boycott BJD meet

All the 15 rebel Biju Janata Dal MLAs boycotted the party's state executive meeting convened by party president and Union Steel and Mines Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday afternoon. The rebels had elected a new legislative party leader on Monday removing leader of opposition Ram Krushna Patnaik.

However, the executive meeting was held as scheduled with the Union minister presiding over the meeting.

The executive ratified all decisions taken by the party president against the dissidents and empowered him to take disciplinary action against any members indulging in anti-party activities.

The executive also ratified the expulsion of five senior BJD MLAs by the party president.

Later, addressing the media, Patnaik ruled out any split in the party saying that there had been some differences among the members which were inherent in all political parties.

This is the first executive body meeting of the party, which was formed after a group led by the Union minister broke away from the Janata Dal.

The number of members who had attended the meeting was not known.

BJD sources said out of the 12 Parliament members (nine from the Lok Sabha and three from the Rajya Sabha), only four LS members did not attend the meeting. They were Bhartruhari Mahatab, Tathagata Satpathy, Prabhat Samantray and Dr Prasanna Patsani.

They had earlier written separate letters to the president expressing displeasure over the functioning of the party, and urged Patnaik to defer the executive in the party interest.

Patnaik had constituted a jumbo 84-member state executive amid resentment from several senior party leaders, who alleged that neither MPs nor MLAs consulted before the constitution of the executive body .

UNI

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