NEW DELHI, DEC 27: The crisis within the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) resurfaced on Saturday, with three MPs complaining to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee about their party President Naveen Patnaik's style of functioning.The development coincides with the crisis-ridden BJD's first birth anniversary. On a day when the party President, who is also a Union Minister, held a small programme at his Bhubaneshwar-based residence `Naveen Niwas' to celebrate the occasion, the three Lok Sabha MPs -- Tathagata Satpathy (Dhenkanal), Prasanna Patsani (Bhubaneshwar) and Prabhat Samantaray gave vent to their unhappiness with Naveen's leadership.
The three BJD MPs met Vajpayee in the morning. ``He gave us a patient hearing for a full 40 minutes,'' claimed Satpathy.
Interestingly, the foundation day function organised by Patnaik could have contributed to the latest round of infighting within the BJD, indicating that all is not well within the party, despite his proclamations to the contrary.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.