BHUBANESWAR: Dealing a body blow to Bharatiya Janata Party in Odisha, two of its Zilla Parishad (ZP) members from Bargarh district who were allegedly missing for quite some days surfaced in Bhubaneswar and joined the BJD.
The development came just as the party’s senior leaders were busy at state headquarters in giving final touches to the process for election of district presidents.
The two ZP members who joined the BJD are - Parbati Bhoi and Sushma Bhue.
Interestingly, the BJP had on Saturday alleged that the two ZP members were abducted by the BJD men by led by minister Sushant Singh.
Along with - Parbati Bhoi and Sushma Bhue, seven other BJP ZP members also surfaced in Bhubaneswar and said they all had resigned from the party.
In the 2017 ZP polls in Bargarh district, the BJP had won 25 of the 34 seats and formed Zilla Parishad council. With resignation of nine ZP members, the BJP has almost lost the majority in the council and its president is likely to face the no-confidence motion. Speaking on the matter, senior BJP leader Pradip Purohit said, “A conspiracy has been hatched from the Naveen Niwas (official residence of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik) to divide the BJP. The Zilla Parishad members had won on BJP tickets; and hence, it is now a fit case for the anti-defection law to apply. We will move the State Election Commission soon.”
In another development, the saffron party’s Odisha in-charge Arun Singh on Sunday informed that the state unit of the BJP will get its new chief by the end of December.
“The BJP district presidents and state council members will elect the new party chief. We can’t say who will be the next president prior to the election
process,” he said.
