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Crisis, as Naveen Patnaik suspends 5 BJD MLAs

The seven-month-old Biju Janata Dal led by Naveen Patnaik, former chief minister Biju Patnaik's son, is facing a crisis following last week's suspension of five senior MLAs from the party for anti-party activities.

There is considerable pressure from party groups on the BJD leadership to withdraw the suspension. But Patnaik has not yet made up his mind.

Kalpataru Das, Bishnu Das, Bijayashree Routray, Prabhat Tripathy and Surya Narayan Patra, the MLAs suspended on June 20, have questioned the party's functioning, alleging a conspiracy to weaken the BJD.

They said they were suspended at the behest of the BJP, the BJD's ally in Orissa, in the wake of the BJD candidate's debacle in the Rajya Sabha election due to cross voting. The agitated MLAs had already demanded a CBI inquiry into the episode.

UNI

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