Ruling BJD workers and leaders across the state today staged demonstrations and burnt effigies of expelled former Finance minister Prafulla Ghadai for his alleged remarks against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The party workers in Jajpur, the home district of Ghadai, burnt effigy of the former BJD vice-president and demanded his expulsion from the regional outfit.
A number of newly elected MLAs also gathered in the state capital and staged a demonstration demanding action against Ghadai before Patnaik was expelled.
Ghadai's contemporary and another BJD vice-president Damodar Rout said the former Finance minister should have learnt a lesson from the Pyari Mohapatra episode.
"Ghadai, who is an experienced person in Odisha politics, may have forgotten that an individual is not important in a party. His statement in the media against the party and its president is anti-party activity. The expulsion of Ghadai is the right step for the offence of taking on the party and its supremo," said Rout.
Welcoming Patnaik's action, senior BJD leader and Industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra said "The vice-president of the party (Ghadai) should not have said something unpalatable against the party president (PatnaiK). The party has given him a lot. His son is a MLA and Ghadai himself worked as the Finance minister for more than 7 years.
