Rayagada: Since last 24 years,March 5th,the birth day of legandary leader Biju patnaik,turned to be important day for the activists of BJD.Even the erstwhile BJD govt led by Naveen patnaik,observed the day by naming the day as panchayatraj diwas.However,the scenario is different this year,as the BJD dethroned from power by BJP.After the debacle district units of the regional party riddled with factionalism,in such a situation how the imporatant day will be observed,has worried the party activists.The day was observed as govt function during the BJD regime,it will continue this year too,but the day will be dedicated to all the state leaders including Biju babu,said Sunil sahu,spokesman of BJP,ganjam dist unit.Similarly veteraon BJD leader Subash moharana said,all preparations has been made to observe the legandary leaders jayanti.He said,no faction is there in the district unit,may be differences,but we all unitedly observe the day.However,the scenario in Rayagada district is different,as both the saffron and regional parties riddled with acute factionalism.While the leaders of rulling BJP is keen to be accomodated in the govt run corporationsthe BJD leaders are busy to clinch the president post for the district unit,what virtually made the panchayatraj diwaas and Biju jayanti less important.The BJP leaders are of the view that the panchayatraj day will be observed officially and they have do a little,rather only to participate in it.Similarly the BJD leaders claimed Biju jayanti will be observed in a grand scale,but there is no visible preparation,although hardly a day left.Incidently,the BJD has over a dozen aspirants for the party`s district unit president post.No doubt,the party is not in power,but the craze for the post is there.As such,all the three assembly segments in the district won by congress,still the BJD has a strong base and the BJP is lagging behind the two parties.Apart from the present presidentN.Bhaskar rao,the other prominent leaders eyeing for the president post are Sudhir dasformer minister Lalbihari himirika and Jaganath saraka,former zilla parishad chairman Gangadhar puala,P.Gouri sankar,Amiya swain,M.Gangadhar,B.Tirupati,Debi acharya,Ratan jain,Gagan acharya,debi patnaik are the front runners for the post.Much before the last general election,the district unit was divided into two groups by Bhaskar and Sudhir,as a result of which the BJD faced the debacle.Still the factionalism continued ,rather increased,what has turned to be a serious headache for the party.The irony is that,the local leaders who never dared to defy the order of BJD supremo,now acts differently.To end the factionalism in Rayagada district,Naveen asked the leaders to be sincere and to work unitedly to strengthen the party.Even three state BJD leaders was sent to solve the crisis,but the factionalism continued admitted several leaders on condition of anonimity.First former minister and MLA,Arun sahu followed by Bhrugu boxipatra and later upper house MP Munna khan.The three leaders reportedly met the leaders indivisually and discussed.However so far no visible outcome is there.Now the activists in the district are in a fix how the Biju jayanti will be observed in such a situation.On the otherhand,several senior activists in the party opined that to end the factionalism,the high command should nominate a person as president of the unit,who has acess with the factions.
