Rebels may spoil Juals party

BHUBANESWAR: The BJP State Executive Committee meeting, scheduled for Sunday,  here assumes significance against the backdrop of a recent meeting of some leaders, opposed to State president Jual Oram, with national president Nitin Gadkari in Delhi. Even as the State functionaries of the BJP met here to set agenda for the meeting, sources said leaders opposed to Oram will skip it. A 10-member team of the BJP which included Legislature Party leader KV Singhdeo, legislators Jayanarayan Mishra, Pratap Sarangi (Independent), former ministers Samir Dey, Manmohan Samal and Surama Padhi, and former deputy speaker Ramachandra Panda, met Gadkari at his residence and apprised him of the sorry state of affairs of the party in the State under Oram. Senior party leader Bijay Mohapatra, who met Gadkari separately, is believed to have explained things. An insider told this paper that many  rebels would boycott the meeting to make their displeasure known. While setting the agenda for the Sunday meeting, the State functionaries on Saturday analysed the party’s poor performance in the recent panchayat elections. The meeting also discussed modalities for the membership drive before the election of a new State president due in November. The meeting, presided over by Oram, was attended by national secretary Balbir Punj, State in-charge Santosh Gangwar, senior leaders BB Harichandan, Bimbadhar Kuanr, organising secretary Panchanan Rout and Nayan Mohanty.