BHUBANESWAR, January 22: The crisis in the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) over seat allotment aggravated further today with the senior vice-president and member of the political affairs committee (PAC) Anang Uday Singhdeo resigning from the party posts.Reliable sources revealed that an angry Singhdeo dashed off a letter to the party president Naveen Patnaik tendering his resignation from both the posts. Singhdeo admitted to having written a letter to the party president. But he declined to divulge the contents.
The latest crisis in the regional outfit is a sequel to the surrender of the Bolangir seat by the BJD leadership to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Singhdeo, a former minister in the Biju Patnaik cabinet, was a serious contender for Bolangir.
Leaders of the BJD from Western Orissa had a separate meeting last night to take stock of the situation. Meanwhile, Bijay Mahapatra, PAC chairman, who is being blamed by the Western Orissa leaders for surrendering the Bolangir seat to the BJP in lieu of some coastal
Orissa seats, had consultations with his aides.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
