(Top) Srikant Jena and Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, July 6: Union minister of state for statistics and programme implementation Srikant Jena set off political fireworks ahead of the proposed visit of the two presidential candidates to the state, aiming a direct blow at Naveen Patnaik.

The chief minister has sought to project himself as the champion of tribals by backing the candidature of P.A. Sangma.

“Twenty tribal-dominated districts of the state have become the hotbed of Maoist activities under his regime. It was under this government that 13 tribals were killed in a police firing at Kalinga Nagar and then the palms of some of them were chopped off,” said Jena in a letter to the chief minister, the copies of which reached media here today.

The minister, who has been jousting with the state government over a number of issues for the past few weeks, also sought to remind Naveen how his government was trying to hand over the Niyamgiri bauxite mines to a private company by evicting members of a primitive tribe residing there.

Jena also accused the government of failing to implement the reservation policy for tribals and Dalits, saying that while they were entitled to 38.26 per cent reservation in education, they were able to avail this facility only to the tune of 20 per cent.

He also questioned why Naveen had only one tribal in his cabinet. “This, too, perhaps has been done out of compulsion” he said.

Jena, who invited Naveen to an open debate on whether Odisha had gained more during the NDA or the UPA regime, also took a dig at the ruling BJD for burning his as well as Pranab Mukherjee’s effigies following a controversy over the latter’s alleged backdated resignation from the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).

“Was it done at your instance or it was the handiwork of your supporters who are competing with each other to prove their loyalty to you?” asked the minister whose missive is certain to set political temperature in the state soaring ahead of Mukherjee’s proposed visit to Bhubaneswar on July 11 to be followed by Sangma on July 15.

“Burning of effigies is a part of politics. Future will show who will be at the receiving end of such protests in the state,” he said while debunking claims about the backdated resignation of Mukherjee in which he was alleged to have played a role.

“Before making such allegations, one should know the constitution of the ISI, which is an autonomous body. My ministry does not decide who becomes the chairman of the ISI,” he said adding that Mukherjee had quit the ISI chairman’s post on June 20 and it was duly accepted by its president.

“Neither my ministry I nor had any role in it,” Jena said alleging that the charge against Mukherjee and him was nothing but a smokescreen to divert attention from the internal squabbles of the BJD. He described the allegation that he had deprived Sangma from becoming the President as “ridiculous” and said “one can fool some people for sometime but not all for all the time.” Jena sought to remind Naveen that even before the latter made his entry into politics, he had played a role in making Sangma the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The minister said while he had no objection to Naveen joining hands with BJP to boost Sangma’s chances, it was wrong to drag Mukherjee’s name into the controversy.