BHUBANESWAR: Both pro and anti-Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) factions held separate strategic meetings here on Tuesday, making the matter public.

The leaders of both factions met at a time when Naveen Patnaik is in United Kingdom.

A group of party legislators met at the residence of Pyari Mohan Mohapatra in Shahid Nagar here today, while another group met separately at an unknown location, The Times of India reported.

The Biju Janata Dal has 104 MLAs in the 147-member Odisha assembly.

Differences emerged between Naveen and Pyari last week and are still growing.

Mohapatra admitted that several party MLAs met him today, according to the website. He said, “More than 35 MLAs met me during the day. Since the BJD has called Odisha bandh on May 31, the discussions focused on how to make it successful. The current political situation also figured during the discussions.”

However, BJD Lok Sabha MP Bhartruhari Mahatab said: “It doesn’t augur well for the BJD. While one group is headed by Pyaribabu, the other is led by members opposed to him.”

Pravat Ranjan Biswal described the Rajya Sabha MP as “BJD’s margadarshak (ideologue)”, saying, “He (Mohapatra) was our leader and will remain so. We came to the meeting on the invitation of Pyaribabu. There had been some problems in the party. We will sort out those problems.”

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