Dropped Orissa Minister may quit BJD

By N. Ramdas

BHUBANESWAR, JULY 10. The manner in which three senior Ministers were dropped from the Orissa Cabinet on Monday has raised question marks over the survivability of the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD-BJP coalition Government.

The Minister for Works and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Nalini Mohanty, who has been an MLA for more then two decades and is considered a confidant of Mr. Patnaik, was dropped along with the Health Minister and BJD colleague, Dr. Kamala Das.

The Minister for Rural Development, Mr. Prasanta Nanda, of the BJP, was also dropped.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Mohanty, who has announced his resignation as the working president of the BJD, did not rule out the possibility of quitting the party as he had been ``humiliated''. He said he was shocked for being dropped in such a fashion as he had a clean image.

He added that he was in his office when news case that he had been dropped.

Will Mr. Mohanty join the Orissa Gana Parishad (OGP) led by Mr. Bijoy Mahapatra, a former Minister? This possibility is not being ruled and a new front could emerge in the coming days.

What has shocked many is that Mr. Patnaik did not find it necessary to either talk to the Ministers or the State BJP leaders before taking such drastic action.

Our Staff Correspondent writes:

The Orissa unit BJP president, Mr. Manmohan Samal, supported Mr. Patnaik's decision, saying it would add to the ``clean image'' of the coalition government. In a statement, he said that the BJP welcomed any step in the fight against corruption as the coalition was committed to providing a clean, transparent and accountable government.

The Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee president and former Chief Minister, Mr. J.B. Patnaik, demanded that the coalition Government step down and seek a fresh mandate from the people.

``The Government was corrupt from the beginning and the Chief Minister was not above corruption too,'' he alleged.

He said that the removal of the three Ministers would not make the Government corruption-free. The three had been made scapegoats to refurbish the Government's sagging image.

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