The internal battle in the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) reached a new low with some supporters of Odisha Health Minister Pratap Jena hurling eggs, chhapals and stones at party’s Lok Sabha MP from Kendrapara Baijayant Panda earlier today.
The ugly incident took place at Jatiparilo village of Cuttack’s Mahanga, which comes under Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency. Panda was there to launch a project for 5.2 million litres of drinking water. Odisha Health Minister Pratap Jena is an MLA from Mahanga.
The water tank was built from Panda’s Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) fund. Pratap Jena’s supporters allege that the MLA was “not personally invited” to the function.
“The allegations against me are false. The plaque which was broken had names of local MLA and officials. I have always ensured they are invited,” said Panda. Jena is considered as detractor of Panda.
“Forget stones and eggs, they can’t cow me down even if they use bullets. Jai Jagannatha,” he tweeted.
In another tweet, Panda demonstrated that the public was with him:
https://twitter.com/PandaJay/status/869473469259423744
Yesterday, after the miscreants threw stones at the project site, Panda had tweeted:
https://twitter.com/PandaJay/status/869148319402131456
https://twitter.com/PandaJay/status/869148251324383232
Panda was hinting at the November 2016 incident at Mahakalpada in Kendrapara district when he faced protests from a section of BJD workers.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has condemned the incident calling it “undemocratic”.
Recently, Panda was removed from his post of BJD Parliamentary Party spokesperson, months after he wrote an Op-Ed in Odia daily Samaj asking the party to do a “soul searching”.