More worries for Odisha govt

The political scene in Odisha, all of a sudden, has become surcharged. The unsolved murder of a minor girl in Nayagarh district of the state has provided just enough ammunition to the opposition to target the BJD government. The case, undoubtedly, was a shoddy piece of police work.

The victim, a five-year-old girl, had gone missing on July 14 and 10 days later, her decomposed body was spotted in a bag not very far from the house. Four months into the incident, there has still been no breakthrough in the case. But for the desperate parents’ bid to seek justice for their child, the government would not have woken up.

The couple recently tried to immolate themselves outside the state Assembly, drawing a minister into the case. The opposition suddenly found an issue to take the government on. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed an SIT probe, but the issue refuses to die down as the Congress wants the minister’s resignation while the BJP demands a CBI probe. 

Already in trouble, the government has found itself on yet another sticky wicket when the sensational exploits of a senior Indian Forest Service officer and his son came to the fore late last month, and again another ruling party MLA and former minister was found to have close links to the scandal.

The high-flying lifestyle of the duo included around a score charter flight trips in the midst of the lockdown and the IFS officer’s son is alleged to be involved in a multi-crore job scam in connivance with the influential MLA. He was also soon going to be the latter’s son-in-law. Naveen, known to be least tolerant of corruption, spared no time in expelling the legislator from the party.

Not stopping at that, he has referred the matter to the Odisha Lokayukta in what is the first graft case to be sent to the anti-corruption ombudsman by the state government since its inception. The decision is welcome, but there is too much at stake given the politician-bureaucrat nexus. Given the high-profile nature of the case, it is necessary that his administration probe how the wrongdoings went unnoticed all this while and bring truth to the fore.