File picture of the victorious BJD councillors after declaration of results in Berhampur

Berhampur, Sept. 23: The state’s municipal corporation act does not prevent defection and the BJD couldn’t take chances. The party, therefore, replicated the heartland’s resort diplomacy and sent all its newly elected councillors on a vacation to Goa.

In an unprecedented move, all the 24 newly elected BJD councillors of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation were today flown to Mumbai from where they travelled by road to Goa. The councillors had been holed up at a safe haven in Bhubaneswar for the past two days.

The vacation has become a family affair for five to six women councillors as their husbands have joined the trip. Even some of the male councillors have their spouses in tow.

The flock of the elected BJD councillors, including 16 women, had gone to Bhubaneswar on Friday to seek the blessings from party supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Preferring to remain tight-lipped about the sudden flight to Goa, district BJD president Subhash Moharana, who is also accompanying the councillors, said: “We had worked very hard during the elections. The new councillors needed a holiday. We are on a pleasure trip.”

Moharana, however, was unwilling to part with more details about the trip.

The decision to herd the councillors to Goa was taken at the behest of the BJD think-tank that includes senior leaders such as revenue minister Surya Narayan Patro, who along with Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena pioneered the party’s victory here.

Jena, who was also Naveen’s man in the election campaign, is also accompanying the councillors.

Before the BJD team, including 16 women councillors, left the state, they spent two days at the posh VITS hotel on Cuttack Road in Bhubaneswar.

Sources in the BJD said they would return to Bhubaneswar on Saturday night and would reach here on Monday morning, hours before election for the mayor’s post takes place. In the 40-member corporation, the BJD has won 24 seats, the Congress 15 and one Independent.

The Goa move stems from BJD’s fear that some of its councillors might change sides at the time of the September 30 mayoral election.

Though the parties contest the polls on the basis of party symbols, there is no anti-defection clause in the state’s municipal act. A councillor will not invite action under the act if he or she decides to vote in defiance of the party’s stand.

Reacting to the ruling party’s decision to send its victorious councillors on a pleasure jaunt, state Congress chief Jaydev Jena said: “The BJD had spent a lot of money to win the elections in Berhampur. The trip to Goa reflects the party’s lack of confidence in its elected representatives. We respect the people’s verdict and are not making any bid to capture power in the corporation.”

Former Union minister and Congress leader Chandrasekhar Sahu, however, said: “It’s an internal matter of the BJD to send its councillors to Goa.”

The Berhampur Municipal Corporation is crucial and prestigious to the BJD as it happens to be the home of Naveen. The chief minister will select the person to head the corporation in consultation with district leaders.

The mayor’s post is reserved for a woman from other backward castes. There are four women councillors who are in the race for the coveted slot.

“It is a matter of great pride that the next mayor will be the first lady in the history of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation. There are aspirants. But the BJD supremo and the chief minister will take a final decision on the issue,” said Patro.

However, BJD sources said that councillors, who are in the running for the mayor’s post are — Mamata Bishoyi, Asha Rani, K. Madhavi and Sanghamitra Dalai.