Interesting meeting

At a wedding last week, one found ruling BJD’s Ranpur MLA Rabi Mohapatra exchanging pleasantries with incarcerated Maoist leader Sabysachi Panda’s elder brother Siddhartha. Many heads turned to the pair but they refused to be distracted. The curiosity of the onlookers was understandable as Sabyasachi’s wife, Subhashree, alias Milli, had contested the last Assembly election against Mohapatra as an Ama Odisha party candidate. As expected, she lost but succeeded in her purpose of making an entry into electoral politics. Considering that she still nurses strong political ambitions and, in all probability, treats Mohapatra as her rival in Ranpur, the bonhomie between Siddhartha and the MLA was bound to raise eyebrows. This, despite the fact that Siddhartha has a strong BJD connection. 

Juicy stories

Spicy titbits about middleman Shubhankar Nayak, who was arrested by the CBI for allegedly acting as the conduit between bureaucrats, police officers, high-profile journalists and the tainted Seashore group, keep surfacing almost every day. In the wake of his arrest, one heard that the CBI officials who raided his Bhubaneswar apartment found Rs14 lakh in cash dumped in a dustbin. While the dustbin part is yet to be confirmed or denied by the CBI, an even juicier story about Naik is in circulation. When being taken to jail, the 31-year-old wheeler-dealer is believed to have inquired from the policemen escorting him about the quality of food served in jail. Having lived like fighting cocks all these years, Nayak was apparently worried about the fare he would be served in the slammer. But the driver of the van carrying him to the prison sought to ally his fears in characteristic fashion. “It is as good as the money you are willing to shell out,” the driver is said to have told Shubhankar.

Speculations rife

Ever since the CBI took over the probe into the money deposit-collection scam, there is increasing speculation on the fate of some top-rung bureaucrats. Speculation in this regard reached a feverish pitch when two IPS officers were recently called to the CBI office for questioning. Though no IAS officer has been called for questioning as yet, sources said someone high up in the chief minister’s office could be in trouble. And if the man actually lands in trouble, the chances of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation commissioner Krishan Kumar replacing him are said to be bright. This because Kumar is not only young and brought but has also done a successful stint as the collector of Ganjam, the home district of chief minister Naveen Patnaik. This is considered to a crucial qualification for a posting close to the chief minister. 

 

BJD breather

The fact that Odisha’s former director general of police Prakash Mishra missed the chance to become CBI director by a whisker has left many of his admirers disappointed. 

However, if sources are to be believed, people in the top echelons of the state administration have heaved a sigh of relief. Given the ongoing tug-of-war between Mishra, who is currently special secretary (internal security) at the Union home ministry, and the state government, there was growing apprehension among BJD leaders and even top bureaucrats that the 1977 batch IPS officer would have turned the CBI on the ruling establishment had he won the race. “Though the CBI continues to probe the money deposit-collection scam, the threat perception from it is far less now,” admitted a ruling party leader.

 

Testing his luck

Though used to courting controversies, excise minister Damodar Rout seems to have gone a bit too far this time by taking aim at Assembly speaker Niranjan Pujari. 

Out on a limb on the issue, he tried to mount a damage control exercise but it did not work. He found himself in an unenviable position where Opposition leaders were extolling him as the custodian of truth while his own party leaders criticised him roundly for being needlessly blunt and controversial. 

One of them went to the extent of saying that he should be dropped from the ministry forthwith. If rumours about a possible ministry shuffle at the end of the current session of the state Assembly have any basis, Rout would need a lot of luck to survive. 

Ashutosh Mishra

Footnote

Officers shaken

The IPS fraternity of the state has been shaken by CBI’s interrogation of two of their members in connection with the money deposit-collection scam. 

The officers quizzed by the central investigating agency themselves appeared to be in low spirits when they came out of the agency’s Bhubaneswar office at the end of the grilling. 

With one of them revealing that broker Shubhankar Nayak had met him a few times posing to be a journalist, there is reported to be an informal understanding among IPS officers now about not entertaining people who seek 
closeness with them by making false claims or dropping names. 

“Enough is enough. We will not even take phone calls from such persons,” said one of them.