BJD expels senior leader Prafulla Ghadai from party

BHUBANESWAR: Senior leader and former Odisha Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai was today expelled from the ruling BJD by party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for anti-party activities.

"Prafulla Chandra Ghadai has been expelled from the party for anti-party activities with immediate effect," Patnaik told reporters here without elaborating.

However, BJD spokesman Samir Ranjan Dash told reporters that Ghadai was indulging in anti-party activities and working to weaken the party leadership.

It is now clear that Ghadai was hand in gloves with Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, who had made an unsuccessful bid to oust the chief minister in May, 2012 when Patnaik was abroad, Dash said.

"The party president took this drastic step (expelling Ghadai) in response to demand from the rank and file of the BJD from across the state," he said.

The expulsion of Ghadai, who had been denied BJD ticket in the last elections, came in the wake of certain adverse remarks about Naveen attributed to him appeared in an Odia daily.