Odisha: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan hits back at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for opposition remark

BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday hit back at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his comment on opposition attack on his office.“In a democracy, people have every right to question the action of the Chief Minister and activities in his office as they have great expectation from him. The Chief Minister’s office (CMO) is not above criticism. When people start pointing fingers at his office, he should know that something is wrong,” Pradhan said at a BJP function here.

Addressing a meeting organised for the induction of former MLA Ramaranjan Baliarsingh and popular actors of Ollywood, Mihir Dasand Anu Choudhury into the BJP, Pradhan said the opposition political parties have been raising issues affecting the people. But many of these questions remain unanswered. If the Chief Minister feels uncomfortable with opposition questioning deficiencies in his government and governance, it is his problem.

The Union Minister’s reaction came in response to the last week’s comment of the Chief Minister that the opposition attacks his office when they have no other issues. “I have nothing to comment in the internal affairs of the BJD. The Chief Minister has the prerogative to drop minister from his Council. However, he has to clarify when a senior member of his party raised the issue of corruption having link with CMO,” Pradhan said while referring to the alleged corruption in the Soil Conservation Department. The Chief Minister’s silence on the Dasarathpur rape case is baffling. What is more annoying is the State Government’s failure to collect about 50 per cent of the penalty imposed on mining companies for illegal mining by the Supreme Court, he said.

The BJD, on the the hand, said the Union Minister is lowering his standard by attacking officers of the CMO. Rajya Sabha member and BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said such comments against bureaucracy is not expected from Union Minister. He is lowering his stature by doing so, Deb added.