Bhubaneswar, March 27: The high-profile rivalry between BJD’s eminence grise Pyari Mohan Mohapatra and agriculture minister Damodar Rout was back in news today as Mohapatra had sought to beard his bete noire in his own den.

Taking the battle into his enemy’s camp Mohapatra addressed a meeting in the Ersama block, barely five kilometres from Rout’s native village Malipura.

Rout was not invited to the meet organised by an NGO. Mohapatra also distributed benefits under some central schemes to the local people at the venue.

This is perhaps the first occasion when such an event has been organised in the Ersama block with Rout not being on the dais.

Rout had represented Ersama several times till 2009. However, following the delimitation of constituencies he had to shift to Paradip constituency.

The only consolation for Rout was that his arch political rival in Jagatsinghpur, BJD MLA Bishnu Charan Das, was also not present at the meet.

Sources said though Das had been invited, he kept away from the venue on police advice fearing that his presence might spark off tension.

“After we had got specific information that a section of BJD workers would be seriously upset and might even hurl eggs and wave black flags, we requested the organisers not to have Das on the dais,” said a police officer.

Sources said that in absence of Rout, tension prevailed in Erasama. Police bandobast was made to avert any untoward incidents.

Protesting against Rout’s exclusion from the meet, the local BJD block unit today observed a black day.

“We locked the local BJD office. We protested peacefully,” said BJD block unit president Nimai Charan Swain.

Eyewitness said the BJD workers had also put up black flags at the party office and shouted anti-Mohapatra slogans.

Balikuda-Erasama MLA Prashant Muduli, panchayati raj minister Prafulla Samal and Jagatsinghpur MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai along with many officials of the Jagatsinghpur district administration also attended the meet.

Sources said a few BJD workers told Mohapatra that the ongoing cold war between him and Rout on the one hand, and Rout and Das on the other, would only harm the party.

Mohapatra, who laid the foundation stone of a fire station at Balikuda, however, avoided an argument with party workers.

Mohapatra and Rout have been at loggerheads for sometime now, the tension between them escalating following controversy over the party’s right to assess the performance of ministers.