JD pooh-poohs split threat in Orissa

NEW DELHI, DEC 12: The Janata Dal today appeared confident of retaining Naveen Patnaik, MP from Orissa and son of the late Biju Patnaik, in...

NEW DELHI, DEC 12: The Janata Dal today appeared confident of retaining Naveen Patnaik, MP from Orissa and son of the late Biju Patnaik, in the party and persuading him to give up plans of splitting the party in the State and floating a regional outfit.

After a meeting Prime Minister IK Gujral had with Patnaik today, the Janata Dal leadership said that the rebels who had managed to rope him in yesterday would not be able to split the legislature party in Orissa.

Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy was also present when the two met. Patnaik also met former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and Human Resource Development Minister SR Bommai who is a JD member of the Rajya Sabha elected from Orissa.

The rebels led by Union Food Processing Minister Dilip Ray had received a shot in the arm after Patnaik yesterday pledged his support to the formation of a new party which would have an alliance with the BJP in the coming elections. They were keen on exploiting Patnaik’s association with the new party as they feel he is the heir to his father’s political legacy.

Patnaik left for Bhubaneswar where the rebels were awaiting his return to finalise plans for the launch of the new party.

A senior JD leader said that if the rebels think they would succeed in their effort to split the JD legislature party, they were mistaken. “Why should the MLAs want to leave the organisation at this stage when they have no stake in the Lok Sabha elections,” he noted. While the party leadership hopes that Patnaik will stay back in the party, they are not optimistic about the hardliners – Dilip Ray and other leaders like Bijoy Mahapatra and Prasanna Acharya.

There are 44 JD MLAs in the State and the rebels need the support of 15 of them to effect a one-thirds split and avoid their disqualification.

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The rebels’ move to launch a new party is provoked by their apprehension that the Congress will derive the maximum advantage of the three-way split in votes with both the Janata Dal and the BJP vying for the anti-Congress vote. Their logic is that this could be prevented by an electoral understanding between the new regional outfit with the BJP.