Bhubaneswar, Oct. 25: The state BJP leadership finds itself in a tight spot with cadres questioning L.K. Advani’s intriguing silence on the series of scams and scandals that have rocked Orissa in the recent past.

The resentment among the leaders was evident at the party’s core committee meeting here today to assess the impact of Advani’s yatra through the state.

During his two-day Jana Chetna Yatra in Orissa, Advani did not utter a single word about corruption of the state government. “We were hoping till the last moment that Advani would say something against the Naveen Patnaik’s government. But, it did not happen. The rath moved the BJP’s stronghold area, but we were unable to reap in from the yatra,” said a BJP leader. Even BJP state unit vice- president Ashok Sahu went public stating: “Had Advaniji made a comment on the issues relating to Orissa, it would have been better. The cadres were demoralised.”

The BJD also threw its hat intensifying the speculation for an alliance further. The BJD’s second in-command Pyari Mohan Mohapatra said: “We are fighting against the corruption. Those fighting against corruption is our friend.”

BJD senior leader Pradeep Maharathy said: “Noting can be ruled out in politics.”

During the one-day long emergency meeting of the state unit of the BJP, various issues were taken up for discussion relating to Advani’s impact on Orissa politics. A hectic effort was made to undermine Advani’s observation that nothing could be ruled out in an alliance politics. “The BJP is a democratic party. No one’s views will be imposed on the party. The state unit’s view will be taken into confidence. However, Advaniji’s observation was misunderstood,” said BJP leader Nayan Kishore Mohanty.

However, the party cadres were not convinced about the state unit leaders’ argument. “We are not convinced about the state leadership’s argument that Advani’s observation will not make any impact on the forthcoming elections. We will not be able to motivate our cadres at the time of campaign,” said the leaders. All the state BJP senior leaders — Bijay Mohapatra, Jual Oram and Biswabhusan Harichansdan — were guarded in their remarks.

The BJP leaders have successfully raised the issue of mining scam and dal scam. In most of the cases, Mohapatra had successfully raised the issue and given a moral boost to the party while it was passing through a crisis after the BJD-BJP alliance broke in 2009.

“But, keeping the BJP politics, if time comes, the party may also sideline Mohapatra and alone go for an alliance. At that time, others may lend their support to the alliance,” said a BJP leader.

The Jana Chetna Yatra aims to raise the corruption issue. “It is not acceptable that Advaniji talked about the 2G scam that involved only Rs 1.76 lakh crore, but remained silent about the mining scam that involved nearly Rs 3 lakh crore,” said one of the BJP leaders.

However, the BJP workers said though Advani might have not raised the issue, few state leaders were still hopeful that the party would come back to power only with the help of the BJD.

Rejecting the possible alliance with the BJD, state BJP president Jual Oram said: “There is no question of alliance. BJP party president Nitin Gadakari has already made it clear,” senior BJP state leader Biswa Bhusan Harichandan said. “The BJD has ditched us. There is no question of making any alliance in future,” he said.