Naveen Skips Biju Patnaik Jayanti Celebration After Slamming Odisha Govt Over Panchayati Raj Diwas Date Change

Bhubaneswar: Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Odisha Assembly Naveen Patnaik failed to turn up for the state-level celebration of legendary leader Biju Patnaik’s birth anniversary in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

The former Chief Minister skipped the Biju Jayanti programme organised by the state government at Jayadev Bhawan in the capital city in the evening.

It may be noted that Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had invited Naveen, the youngest son of the legendary leader, to the state level celebration of Biju’s birth anniversary function as a distinguished guest.

Apart from Naveen, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLAs Ananta Narayan Jena and Susanta Rout also stayed away from the state-level celebration. Bhubaneswar Mayor Sulochana Das also failed to attend the event.

Earlier in the day, Naveen was also absent in an event organised on the premises of Odisha Assembly to observe the birth anniversary of Biju, a former Chief Minister of Odisha. However, the BJD president attended an event held at the party headquarters in the city here to mark the birth anniversary of Biju.

The previous BJD government had been celebrating Biju Patnaik’s birth anniversary on March 5 as Panchayati Raj Diwas in the state.

However, the BJP government announced that the state would observe Panchayati Raj Diwas on April 24 instead of March 5.

According to the government, the National Panchayati Raj Day or National Local Self-Government Day is observed across the country on April 24. In order to remove this anomaly, the state government has decided to celebrate the Panchayati Raj Diwas on April 24 instead of observing the same on March 5.

The BJD, however, alleged that the state government’s decision is politically motivated and it is an attempt to erase Biju’s legacy.