Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra, who was on Friday expelled from Kendrapara district committee of the party on disciplinary grounds, said some bigwigs had hatched a conspiracy against him for raising the Mahanadi water sharing issue.

It is well known that Mohapatra does not share a cordial relation with Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Kendrapara district party chief Duryodhan Sahu told reporters: "We have expelled him from the district committee as a special invitee on discipline grounds. We have also urged the party president to expel him from the party."

Citing reasons for Mohapatra's expulsion from the district unit, he said: "Mohapatra's supporters had beaten up party activists and damaged the stage put up at Garadpur for a 'misran parba'. They had even threatened that no meeting could be organised without Bijoy Mohapatra."

He said the party organised the "mishran parba" despite opposition from Mohapatra's supporters.

Mohapatra reacted to the development saying that he had been targeted for raising the Mahanadi issue.

"Is it a crime to raise the Mahanadi water sharing issue that concerns the interests of millions of people? I am paying the price for this and accusing the Centre of playing a partisan role and supporting the Chhattisgarh government. In the hindsight, they are working behind my back to remove me from the party. They were waiting for an opportunity," Mohapatra told The Telegraph.

Mohapatra, who had first organised the Mahanadi Bacchao agitation in 2012, had criticised Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the issue accusing him of favouring Chhattisgarh. However, later Pradhan and others clarified that they would not compromise with the interests of Odisha. Even BJP MLAs supported Naveen Patnaik government's motion on Mahanadi to form a House committee to meet the Prime Minister.

Stating that he was ready to accept the decision, Mohapatra said: "The main agenda of the BJP leadership was to remove me. They have succeeded. If my removal from the party makes it stronger, they should go ahead. I will welcome the move."

Speaking on Thursday's incident, Mohapatra said: "It was because of my initiative that zila parishad member won from Garadpur area. Though my house is just half a kilometre away, all efforts were made to keep me away from the function. People have spontaneously reacted. What is my fault?"

Commenting on the issue, state BJP president Basant Panda said: "I am yet to receive the letter from the Kendrapara unit on their demand to remove Mohapatra from the party. As he is a national executive member, I don't have the power to expel him from the party. I will take up the issue with the national president. The committee at the national level will take a decision."

Supporting Sahu, state BJP vice-president Samir Mohanty said: "If he wants to leave the party, no one is going to stop him. He is even going against the views of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

But, Mohapatra maintained that he had not made any adverse remarks against Modi. "I have all respect for him," he said.