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BJD crisis may be resolved soon

Senior Biju Janata Dal leader Ram Krushna Patnaik today resigned as BJD Legislature Party leader.

Party secretary general Prasanna Acharya told reporters in Bhubaneswar that Ram Krushna Patnaik had informed the Orissa assembly speaker of his decision and requested BJD president Naveen Patnaik to elect a new leader.

Political observers felt that Ram Krushna Patnaik's resignation would pave the way for a rapprochement in the crisis-ridden party.

Party sources said a BJDLP meeting would be convened on Monday to elect a new leader.

Meanwhile, a proposal has been mooted by some leaders that all party officials should resign en masse and submit their resignation to Naveen Patnaik to enable him to constitute a new body.

Acharya said he was hopeful that the crisis would be resolved soon. He accused the ruling Congress party of trying to divide the Opposition and declared that Chief Minister Janaki Ballab Patnaik would not succeed in his ''dirty'' game.

However, utter confusion prevailed in the BJD as Prafulla Samal, who was elected legislature party leader by rebel BJD MLAs, decided to go ahead with the scheduled legislature party meeting on Monday.

BJD president and Union Steel and Mines Minister Naveen Patnaik, who held a series of consultations with senior party leaders, left for Delhi today without resolving the crisis. He is expected to return to the state capital on Monday to continue talks to end the impasse.

Earlier, the two warring groups convened separate legislature party meetings in Bhubaneswar on Monday in view of the state assembly's winter session scheduled on December 1.

Samal sent letters to all 27 legislators to attend the meeting.

For his part, Ram Krushna Patnaik, whom the rebels removed as Opposition and legislature party leader, also convened a meeting on the same day at Naveen Nivas.

Ram Krushna Patnaik, however, sent notices to only 21 MLAs. The five senior BJD MLAs expelled by Naveen Patnaik and former political affairs committee chairman Bijaya Mahapatra were excluded.

Assembly Speaker Chintamani Dyan Samantra recognises Samal as the new BJD legislature party leader as well as leader of the Opposition.

Ram Krushna Patnaik claimed he had been elected at an emergency meeting of MLAs on November 17, wherein 12 of 22 legislators voted for him. He argued that since five had been expelled from the party, and one later suspended, the rebel strength was reduced to only nine MLAs.

But Samal rejected this contention. He maintained that the party has 27 MLAs and he was the legislature party leader. He told the speaker that no BJD legislator had either been expelled or suspended from the party.

Samal hoped the fortnight-long impasse would be resolved soon and the party would fight the Congress together. He said he was ready to resign as legislature party leader if that would end the crisis.

UNI

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