Key Highlights
- “Decision, if taken unilaterally, will not be accepted,” Biswal told reporters.
- Sources said Biswal questioned Patnaik over Misra’s candidature when the BJD president was holding discussions with party MLAs.
- Known to be a grassroots leader with strong connections with his constituents, Biswal is a three-time MLA — once as an independent in 2004 and later as a BJD nominee in 2009 and 2014.
- Though Biswal was earlier suspended by the BJD following the May 29 alleged coup attempt by Patnaik’s former adviser Pyarimohan Mohapatra, his suspension was withdrawn months later, in February 2013, and he was later given the party ticket in the 2014 Assembly polls.
- Biswal was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in September 2017 for his alleged role in a chit-fund scam and later released on bail.
