Bhubaneswar: Leader of Opposition (LoP) and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday addressed the raging controversy over ‘Biju Naveen Inspirational Foundation’.
Addressing the media, Naveen clarified that he had personally initiated establishment of the charitable trust in honour of his father, the late Biju Patnaik. He further emphasised that the trust is dedicated exclusively to charitable activities and has no affiliation with the BJD or any other political party. “Biju babu was known amongst other things for his philanthropic efforts. At the young age of 30, he donated the Kalinga UNESCO prize in Paris for popularisation of science. He did many other good works in his lifetime,” he said.
He also recalled a prior family gesture of donating Anand Bhavan in Cuttack to the people of Odisha, underscoring the family’s tradition of public service and giving back.
Detailing the personal initiative, the LoP said that prior to undergoing a critical neck surgery in Mumbai, he consulted legal and financial experts in Delhi and decided to establish a public trust in his father’s name. “The trust was started with a small sum of Rs 1 lakh from my own funds. None of this money came from BJD or any other political party,” he added, while addressing what he described as misleading reports circulating in sections of the media.
Naveen underwent successful spinal surgery for cervical arthritis on June 22, 2025, at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai.
The clarification came a day after expelled BJD leader Shreemayee Mishra shared the registration document of the foundation on social media, alleging that it was formed surreptitiously to take control of the party’s assets and funds through the organisation. V Karthikeya Pandian, former IAS officer and close confidant of the BJD president, is the president of the trust and senior lawyer and former advocate general Ashok Kumar Parija is a trustee as per the purported document.
Shreemayee questioned the creation of the trust outside Odisha if it was meant for the betterment of the people of the state.
It was former MLA Pravat Biswal, who first broached the issue after being expelled from the party last month for publicly questioning the candidate selection for four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha. “It was then that I decided to verify the trust’s details on the Darpan Portal. With my colleagues, I reviewed the records and found the relevant information. To dig deeper, I reached out to a contact in Delhi, who sent me the documents’ photocopies today,” Shreemayee added.
BJD leader Santrupt Misra was also caught in the controversy ahead of the Rajya Sabha election, which he won, with the BJP alleging that he had deliberately concealed his association with the body, registered in New Delhi on May 9, 2025, as its secretary.
