Awkward situation

A man stands beside a poster of Utkalmani Gopabandhu Dash with a placard proclaiming himself to be a proud Odia during Raahgiri in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati
nA section of VIP invitees at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here found themselves in an awkward situation last Saturday as Union health minister J.P. Nadda, accompanied by his cabinet colleague Dharmendra Pradhan, inaugurated the Ayush centre and cath lab at the premier health institute. Many of the front row seats meant for VIPs in the auditorium, where the inaugural event was held, were occupied by BJP workers who arrived at the venue along with the two ministers. Offended by the behaviour of party workers, some of the invitees left the venue. This, however, had little impact on the unruly saffronites who seemed to care little for anyone else except the two ministers. 

Rout irked 

Excise minister Damodar Rout’s public spat with Congress leader and his Paradip rival Bapi Sarkhel has set tongues wagging in political circles. The buzz is that more than being worried about Sarkhel’s growing political clout in Paradip, the minister is anxious about the tacit support that the trade union leader has been receiving from a section of BJD leaders. Some of these BJD leaders have been openly critical of Rout and had gone to the extent of drawing the party leadership’s attention to the minister’s controversial statements on issues, such as the removal of former Cuttack mayor Anita Behera from her post. 
Sources said that the minister believed these leaders had ganged up against him and have been extending support to Sarkhel. 

“Rout has no option but to hit back. He has to protect his turf at any cost,” said a BJD leader.

Change in role

Till a few months ago, senior BJP leader Suresh Pujari was one of the most visible faces of the party on local TV channels. 
He was the most heard voice during debates on these channels defending the party and explaining its stand on various issues. 

But things have changed in the past few months with state BJP’s new spokesperson Sajjan Sharma replacing Pujari as the party’s ubiquitous talking head on TV channels. 

While some in the party attribute this to Pujari’s new responsibility as the national BJP secretary which is apparently keeping him busy, others say that Sharma, one of the spokespersons appointed by new state party chief Basant Panda, is 
not only more accessible but also more articulate than Pujari.

All online

During a discussion in the Assembly on Tuesday on the contentious issue of alleged bungling in ration card distribution, minister for food supply and consumer welfare Sanjay Das Burma not only asserted that everything was over and above the board, he also advised Opposition members to take the trouble of visiting the department’s website where all the relevant information on the issue was available. 

“I would request members to visit the website,” said the minister. Pat came the reply from Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati: “From the time that we get up in the morning till going to the bed, we are surrounded by people. Where is the time to visit the department’s website, Mr Minister?” he asked amid chuckles.

Mother tongue 

Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the poster boy of state BJP, is extremely image conscious, especially when he happens to be in Odisha. This was evident on Friday when the minister attended the Odisha state trial of the GAIL Indian Speedstar, an event organised at Kalinga Stadium as part of a nationwide campaign to spot athletes for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics. An initiative of the National Yuva Cooperative Society, the occasion saw visitors writing goodwill messages on a board put up by the organisers at the venue. While most people were seen writing their messages in English, the Union minister stuck to Odia and wished his state’s athletes well in his mother tongue.

 

FOOTNOTE

Salt on wound

If sources are to be believed, the appointment of former Odisha DGP Prakash Mishra as advisor to the governor of crisis-ridden Uttarakhand has not gone down well with the Naveen Patnaik government. Though no one in the BJD has commented on the issue publicly for obvious reasons, the buzz within the party is that Modi regime has slighted Naveen by taking this step.  The bad blood between Mishra and Naveen is quite well known in the political circles both in Bhubaneswar and in Delhi. Though the government, which had slapped a vigilance case against Mishra, fumed at his appointment as director general of CRPF following his abrupt removal as the state’s DGP, it could do little to prevent it. Now his appointment as advisor to Uttarakhand governor has only added insult to injury.

Ashutosh Mishra