Thursday, January 5 2006 13:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bhubaneswar: Even as the unprecedented carnage at Kalinga Nagar continued to have state-wide reverberations, rumblings have been heard within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with some ofthe tribal MLAs turning their ire against the Government.

Several BJP ministers faced the wrath of the party legislators at a meeting here yesterday (Jan 4,2006) who held the Government responsible for the incident in which 13 persons, including 12 tribals, were killed on Monday, BJP insiders said.

''Yes, the issue was discussed and some MLAs were very emotional. Some of them even favoured that BJP should think of pulling out of the Government and the matter be discussed with the party's top leaders,'' the sources said.

Revenue Minister Manmohan Samal said the party MLAs expressed their concern over the incident but denied that anyone had demanded withdrawal of support to the Naveen Patnaik Government.

Contacted, BJP state president Jual Oram, who is presently away from Bhubaneswar said, ''We are discussing the issue with our central leadership at the moment.''

''It is a serious matter and we are concerned,'' he said assuring that he would be available to the media on his return to the state capital tomorrow (Jan 6,2006).

What is worrying partymen is that the BJP's base in Orissa was mainly in the tribal areas and the Kalinga Nagar incident could adversely reflect on the party, a senior BJP leader said on conditions of anonymity.