The ripple effects of the May 29 attempt to unseat Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik continue in the BJD with speculation over removal of Deputy Speaker Sananda Marandi, another loyalist of dissident Pyarimohan Mohapatra, before the Monsoon Session of the Assembly.
Sources said Marandi had played an active role in the coup attempt, but had escaped the axe. He had tried to make amends after the incident. However, things have become complicated during the last couple of days after the recent statements of Pyari.
There is likely to be a new deputy speaker before the Monsoon Session of the Assembly scheduled for last week of August. Marandi is the only Pyari loyalist, who had openly taken sides in the May 29 incident and is still continuing in his post, a senior BJD leader said. His removal has become imminent, the senior leader added. As the ministry reshuffle is going to be completed in the first week of August, the new deputy speaker will be in place after that. The BJD circles were agog with ministry reshuffle speculation the entire day, but it did not take place. Sources said the reshuffle will take place either on Wednesday or Thursday, or will be deferred further.
As Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare is leaving for New Delhi on August 3, the shuffling of the ministry will have to be done before that. Sources said if the reshuffle does not take place in the next two days, it will be postponed to a date after the vice-presidential election on August 7. Sources said Naveen is watching the situation and course of action of the dissidents till the vice-presidential election and will decide on how to tackle the developments after that.
Meanwhile, the administration continues to suffer as a majority of the ministers are skipping even routine work because of the confusion.
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