Dama Rout fires fresh salvo at State government

Bhubaneswar: Former minister and senior BJD leader Damodar Rout today fired a fresh salvo at the ruling party saying that if governance of Odisha is handled by a young MLA and a government official then it's unfortunate.

"It is the job of the leader to control and if something his out of control, whose fault will it be?" questioned Rout adding that he does not believe that CM Naveen Patnaik is working as per someone else's instructions.

Those who are making such claims should directly meet and tell the CM. It's a loss for the State that the CM is not being directly told about the matter, the veteran BJD leader added.

Earlier on Sunday, Rout sneered at CM’s private secretary VK Pandian by saying that he does not know the official as he never had anything to do with clerks.

Besides, replying to a media query on whether Pandian is the de-facto CM of the State, Rout had stated that there is no “second power centre” and the Chief Minister is guided by none.