Bhubaneswar: Senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and Badamba MLA Debi Prasad Mishra ‘inadvertently’ calling 5T Secretary as the Chief Minister of Odisha has created a flutter in political circles.
He reportedly made the faux pas while addressing a meeting that marked the launch of ‘Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha’ at Kacheri Ground of Badamaba in Cuttack district on Thursday. “Badamba is the soil of heritage and glory where a new initiative like ‘Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha’ has been launched. The new scheme was announced a while back by Pandian, our respected CM,” he said, raising eyebrows as no attempts were made thereon by the legislator to correct the mistake.
The former minister, however, said that a controversy is being created over a non-issue. “I am sane person and mentioned names of both the 5T Secretary and the CM in my speech,” he later said.
Calling it as unfortunate, BJP leader Manoj Panda said he might have done so to ensure a party ticket for himself in the upcoming polls.
However, Mishra is not the first leader of BJD to have made such a remark about the 5T Secretary. On May 31, Aska MP Pramila Bisoyi addressed Pandian as “our dear CM’ during a public meeting in her constituency.
An IAS officer of 2000 batch, Pandian recently grabbed headlines for his whirlwind tours of different areas in Odisha on the direction of CM Naveen Patnaik.
