Bhubaneswar:
Suspended Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Pyarimohan Mohapatra, who was till recently a close confidant of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has termed his expulsion from the party as the "worst kind of treachery."
Stating that he was severely "hurt", Mr Mohapatra said, "It is really painful to be suspended from the party for which one had worked day and night."
"This is the worst kind of treachery that anybody can perpetrate on his closest colleague...that too after the closest colleague has worked for him round the clock for a dozen of years," he said, adding that "even treachery is too small a word for this."
When asked if his suspension would affect the party, Mr Payarimohan said, "BJD as a party, the way it has been built up from the grassroots, is not going to end...but I don't know about Naveen Babu..It's a pity that he is making himself vulnerable to attack."
Mr Mohapatra, a Rajya Sabha member, was suspended by the Odisha Chief Minister yesterday. He was seen as plotting a political coup against Mr Patnaik earlier this week while he was away in London on an eight-day official trip.
Besides Mr Mohapatra, Mr Patnaik also sacked two ministers and suspended two party MLAs. And with this, he sought to send out a strong message that he will brook no dissent.
Mr Patnaik and Mr Mohapatra were very close and the CM was known to depend heavily on Mr Mohapatra in all matters relating to the party and the government. The relationship went downhill early this year when Mr Patnaik and his band of loyalists reportedly began to resent Mr Mohapatra's style of operating. Mr Patnaik is said to have not consulted him in recent months when he took major decisions like his stand on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), striking an alliance with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and even projecting PA Sangma as a Presidential candidate.
That reportedly didn't go down well with Mr Mohapatra, said to be used to being referred to as the de facto chief minister and the second power centre. The former IAS officer, who was also close to Mr Patnaik's father, Biju Patnaik, was reportedly egged on by his followers in the party to plan a coup. Sources say he is likely to fight back and retaliate after yesterday's disciplinary action. With the kind of access he has, sources say, he could cause much trouble for Mr Patnaik in future.