War of words in BJD over Waqf Bill

Bhubaneswar: The internal unrest in the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is refusing to die down as party leaders on Monday engaged in a war of words over former bureaucrat and ex-chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s close aide V K Pandian’s role in the unexpected decision of the party allowing its MPs to vote on the controversial Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 in Rajya Sabha according to their conscience.

Notably, the BJD had earlier announced to oppose the Bill (now an Act after Presidential assent) but later changed its decision which triggered an internal strife within the party. Many senior leaders later expressed their discontent over the sudden flip-flop in the party’s stance on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.

On Monday, senior party leader and Rajya Sabha member Debasish Samantray led the attack on Pandian openly holding him responsible for the change of BJD’s stance on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025 in Rajya Sabha. BJD MP Samantray remained absent during the voting on the contentious bill reportedly following the confusion over party’s stance on the Bill. Speaking to mediapersons, he also alleged that Pandian is still present with BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and taking decisions on all the party related matters. Samantray further said the former bureaucrat single-handedly destroyed the regional party in Odisha. Meanwhile, other BJD MPs, including Manas Mangaraj, Sulata Deo, Subhasish Khuntia and Niranjan Bishi came out in support of Pandian and criticised Samantray. “It’s very unfortunate to see that my Rajya Sabha colleague Debasish Samantray has attacked V K Pandian over Waqf Bill decision despite the fact that the latter has already retired from politics 10 months ago and is not participating in any meeting or political activity,” wrote Mangaraj on his X handle on Monday. He noted that Naveen Patnaik is the leader of the party and takes the final decision in all matters related to the party. “We have a leader, Naveen Patnaik, who is our party president and takes the final decisions on all matters. If we have any grievances or concerns, it’s always appropriate to raise these on party forums.

Many senior leaders in the last few days did the same. Samantray instead of following this and going to media and talking against someone, who is no longer in the party politics, shows an ulterior motive misguided by some vested interests,” Mangaraj added.