Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, May 30: Naveen Patnaik’s first overseas visit as chief minister after a 12-year wait has been marred by faint stirrings of a rebellion back home in Odisha.

The purported rebellion by a party colleague, who was virtually the second-in-command in Naveen’s Biju Janata Dal and was once known as the chief minister’s “Chanakya”, appears to have lost its edge after the leader made a phone call from Europe.

But the threat has jolted Naveen, who has won elections after dumping the BJP and braving anti-incumbency to emerge as one of the strongest chief ministers in the country, enough to consider a hasty return to his state. Naveen, known as a jet-setter before he entered politics, had not gone abroad since assuming power in 2000.

Rajya Sabha MP Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, who was principal secretary to Odisha icon and Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik, had set tongues wagging after a meeting he convened yesterday drew a considerable number of MLAs.

Some 33 of the BJD’s 104 legislators in the 147-member Assembly had met Mohapatra, who had fallen out with Naveen apparently after the MP felt he was being sidelined in the party. Another 13 MLAs apparently couldn’t attend the meeting at his home because of media presence.

Sources said the attempted rebellion failed because Mohapatra and his supporters couldn’t rustle up today the support required for a split.

The initial support for Mohapatra appeared to have waned today but he appears to have successfully exploited the chief minister’s perceived insulation from the ranks to sow the seeds of dissent.

Mohapatra denied attempts to split the party but complained about the way the party is being run. “I never wanted a split. However, the party has developed complacency. The MLAs came to vent their frustration. The organisation is not being looked after the way it should be,” he said.

The former bureaucrat said the chief minister had asked him about the meeting. “I told him everything and asked him not to cut short his foreign visit. However, he told me he was reaching Bhubaneswar soon,” the 72-year-old Mohapatra said.

Naveen, 65, who was in London today, confirmed he would be returning soon. “I understand that in my absence an MP of my party is stirring trouble against my state government and also trying to divide the Biju Janata Dal. This is deplorable. I am in London on official government work. I will be returning to Bhubaneswar shortly,” PTI quoted him as saying.

Sources said the first sign of a rift between Mohapatra and the chief minister was Naveen’s unilateral announcement of a party candidate for a by-election last year.

Mohapatra, who handpicked over “90 per cent of the party candidates” for the 2009 polls, was also not consulted when Naveen decided to back NCP leader P.A. Sangma for President.

Unlike Naveen, whose interaction with MLAs and ministers has been minimal, Mohapatra has always been accessible to party leaders.

Today, however, the scene shifted to Naveen Nivas, the chief minister’s residence, where 84 BJD MLAs gathered to discuss their future course of action. The sources said apart from three ministers, almost all the MLAs who went to Mohapatra’s residence yesterday marked their presence at Naveen Nivas this morning.