BJD rift: Naveen to dangle posts

With his party on the verge of a split, Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik has reportedly flashed the green s...

With his party on the verge of a split, Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik has reportedly flashed the green signal to appointment of legislators as heads of PSUs and cooperative institutions in a desperate bid to keep his flock together.

Sources said the decision to go ahead with the appointments was taken at a meeting attended by Health Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei from the BJD, state BJP president Manmohan Samal and Revenue Minister Biswabhusan Harichandan.

Political observers said Patnaik has re-initiated the process to keep MLAs from both the BJD and BJP in good humour. Meanwhile, the loyalist and rebel camps in the party held separate meetings throughout the day yesterday trying to decide modalities for talks.

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The demands likely to be raised by the rebels include withdrawal of the suspension order slapped on three MPs — Kumudini Patnaik, Jagannath Mallik and Prabhat Samantray.

As Prasanna Acharya has already been recognised by the Lok Sabha Speaker as the leader of the BJD Parliamentary Party, the rebels would want the loyalists not to dispute the decision.

Three ministers held talks with Acharya today in a bid to reach a compromise between party loyalists and rebels.