Puri, June 24: Servitors of the 12th-century Jagannath temple today boycotted an important ritual connected with the rath yatra, giving enough hints of a possible confrontation with the temple administration during the upcoming event.

According to the rituals, a 22-member delegation of daitapatis, whose services are essential to ensure the smooth conduct of the festival, was supposed to visit the palace of Puri king, Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, today to break the good news that the deities were recovering from the fever they caught after the Snan Purnima. They remain in hibernation during the illness.

The king greets the daitapatis and sends them back after honouring them with turbans in a ritual known as saree bandha. This is king’s way of showing his love and respect for the daipatatis.

However, in defiance of the rituals, the daitaptais refused to meet the king. Instead, they sent a three-member delegation of Patimohapatras, belonging to another class of servitors to the king.

However, the three-member team refused to accept turbans from the king making the resentment of the servitors with the palace clear.

The Daitapati Niyog has been aggrieved by the king’s wholehearted support to the Shankaracharay’s recommendation that devotees would be barred from climbing the chariots during the rath yatra.

“As we are unhappy with his attitude towards us, we decided not go to the palace. Before announcing his support to Shankaracharya, he being the chairman of the temple administration should have consulted us,” said Daitapati Niyog president, Ramkrushna Das Mohapatra.

Gajapati king Dibyasingha Deb said: “Daitapatis are essential part of the rath yatra. I hope they will come to the palace. Everyone’s cooperation is needed for successful conduct of the car festival.”

Working president of the Daitapati Niyog Ram Chandra Das Mohapatra said: “We will continue to boycott the king even on the day of rath yatra, scheduled to held on June 29. We have all respect for the king. We will not oppose his climbing the chariots and offering prayers to the deities. But we will not accord him the traditional welcome near the chariots.”

In another development, the state government today appointed senior IAS officer and principal secretary, water resources, Suresh Mohapatra, as the special officer for the conduct of the rath yatra.

“Henceforth, Mohapatra will be in charge of rath yatra. He will co-ordinate everything connected with the festival,” said a senior official.

The government took the decision of appointing Mohapatra over the temple chief administrator Arvind Padhee after daitapatis vented their anger against the temple administration in the last co-ordination committee meeting held at Puri on Sunday.

The six members committee of the temple administration today met and deliberated on the issue of who all should be allowed to climb the chariots during the rath yatra. Temple PRO Laxmidhar Pujapanda said: “A detailed discussion was held on this issue. The chief administrator will take a decision after the report is submitted to him.”