Bhubaneswar: BJD leader Sasmit Patra has hit back at Union Minister and BJP MP candidate from Sambalpur Dharmendra Pradhan over his statement that there is no direct telephone connection in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s room at Naveen Niwas and he has no access to Odia news channels.
“I wasn’t aware that Shri Dharmendra Pradhan had taken up a job as security guard at Naveen Niwas in order to know whether the telephone wires and television in Hon’ble CM’s room are working or not. After 4th June and Shri Pradhan’s defeat, he surely wont be using his telephone and TV, since he would have broken them both in anger by then,” Sasmit posted on his X handle on Thursday night.
Speaking to ANI, Dharmendra said he knows Naveen closely since 2001. “He used to watch Odia news channels at 7 pm to know the situation in the entire state. Today, the TV installed in his room is showing only English news channels,” he said.
“There is also direct telephone connection in his room. I have confirmed reports about it,” he added.
Dharmendra’s response was to the CM’s statement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could have called him as a ‘good friend’ if he was so concerned about his health, which the latter had raised during a rally at Chhau Ground in Baripada in Mayurbhanj district and promised to constitute a committee to ascertain the reason behind it.
Also Read: If PM Is Concerned About My Health, He Should Call As ‘Good Friend’: Naveen Patnaik
The Union Minister, however, refused to comment on whether the CM was in total control of the governance in the state. “You can ask the Chief Secretary and DGP of Odisha when they last had a meeting with the CM. Can you have a one-on-one meeting with him with none around?” he asked.
This came on the day when Naveen told the news agency in his first interview this election that he has all powers as the Chief Minister and chairs all the cabinet meetings while strongly denying allegations that his close aide V K Pandian acts as a gatekeeper and takes all decisions on his behalf.
He also refuted speculation that the ex-bureaucrat is his successor. “He is not my successor…he is not even standing for the elections. I have said repeatedly that my successor will be decided by the people of the state. I see all of this as exaggeration and falsehood.”
