Bhubaneswar, June 11: The much-publicised "Mishrana Parva" (mass joining) of the BJP at Kendrapara today was marred by the boycott of local party leaders in protest against senior party leader of the region Bijoy Mohapatra "being sidelined" by the state leadership.

At the meeting, attended by Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, whose doesn't enjoy the best of terms with Mohapatra, two former MLAs of the district - Dolagovind Nayak and Utkal Keshari Parida - joined the party. Nayak, a former Congress leader, is from Aul Assembly constituency, while Parida is a close confidant of Mohapatra.

Parida had followed Mohapatra to the Odisha Gana Parishad and the Nationalist Congress Party.

When The Telegraph contacted Mohapatra, he said that he was not invited to the meeting. "I do not know anything about today's meeting. So, I did not attend. My supporters have stayed away from the meeting," said the veteran leader who, many in the party say, is being sidelined by the state leadership who owe allegiance to Pradhan.

However, BJP state general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan denied the allegation, saying that Mahapatra was indeed invited to the meeting. "He is a national executive member. How could he be not invited to the meeting?" he asked.

Harichandan, however, confided that Mohapatra was not consulted on the joining of the local leaders in the party. "This is decided by a high-level committee of the party," he said. Pradhan, on the other hand, refused to comment on Mohapatra's absence from the meeting.

Ahead of the event, goons had vandalised the posters and hoardings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Pradhan along the main thoroughfares of the district headquarters town. Former BJP Yuva Morcha president of the local unit Umakant Patnaik had lodged a complaint at Kendrapara town police station in this connection.

On June 8, nearly 3,000 party workers had taken out a rally to protest against the alleged sidelining of Mohapatra. Incidentally, BJP district unit president Sukant Dwivedy skipped today's meeting. "It is unfortunate that popular grassroots level leader such as Mohapatra is being marginalised," said zilla parishad member Ganesh Chandra Samal.

Mahanadi row

A Cuttack-based citizens forum - Save Mahanadi River - today threatened to stop supply of river water to the Indian Oil Corporation Limited's (IOCL) refinery in Paradip if the water supply situation in it did not improve. Its leader, BJD MLA from the city Debashish Samantaray, said the people of Cuttack had no option but to resort to this.

Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the IOCL refinery was drawing water legally through an agreement with the state government.

"If anyone takes law into their hands, the state government is there to deal with the situation," he said.