Bhubaneswar Club Braces Up For Big Battle As Ex Odisha Chief Secys Lock Horns For Prez Post

OB Bureau

Bhubaneswar: The much-delayed voting to elect officebearers of Bhubaneswar Club, Odisha’s top recreational facility for the elites, will be held on September 25 and 26, club sources said.

The decision to go ahead with the elections, which were stalled on the ground of COVID pandemic, was taken by the club’s executive committee at a meeting here on Wednesday.

Two former chief secretaries, Bijay Kumar Patnaik and Asit Kumar Tripathy, are contesting for the post of president, which has been lying vacant since the death of Priyabrata Patnaik, a former IAS officer, in July 2000. The club’s vice president Sudipta Das, a former scientist with Regional Research Laboratory (now IMMT), has since been serving as acting president of the club. Das and club secretary Ashok Chinchela, a chartered accountant, have been office-bearers of the club for long and were known to be acolytes of Priyabrata, who was the undisputed boss of the club from 1989 onwards. Both Das and Chinchela have been calling the shots for over a year despite the club’s Executive Committee (EC) in June deciding to “keep in abeyance” their decision to grant membership status of 274 people by allegedly flouting due procedure.

The controversy coupled with inordinate delay in conducting the elections, due since August 2020, had led to suspicion among club members that the duo and their coterie were deliberately procrastinating matters to brush their alleged wrongdoings under the carpet. “Elections had been kept on hold for months though the nominations were filed in April using the pandemic as an alibi. Elections in other organisations and bar associations have been successfully held despite the pandemic,” pointed out a club member, preferring anonymity.

The polls were earlier scheduled in early May but it had to be deferred due to the COVID second wave. However, several club members feel the voting could have been done online or in a staggered manner. “By delaying the process, certain vested interests have ensured the new set of officebearers would not get a full term of one year as elections would be scheduled again in July-August next year,” noted a clubber.

This year’s elections have raised the stakes as Bijay Patnaik, who was a 1976-batch IAS officer and batchmate of Priyabrata, and Asit Tripathy, who was a 1986-batch IAS officer, have locked horns for the coveted president’s post. Interestingly, both Bijay and Asit are not only former chief secretaries also worked closely Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. While Bijay was formerly principal secretary to the CM, Tripathy is current principal advisor to CM and also chairman, Western Odisha Development Council.

For the secretary post there are six contenders: Chinchela, Vishal Kumar Dev (finance secretary), Dewa Shankar Tripathy, Partha Sarathi Panigrahi, Jyoshnamayee Panda and Damodar Pradhani. Five candidates, Jayanta Kumar Hota, Tapesh Roy, Dewa Shankar Tripathy, Mahendra Kumar Gupta and Aroon Birla, are vying for the vice president post while Koushik Mohapatra, Jyotirmoy Mohanty and Ashok Kumar Mishra are battling it out for joint secretary.