5T Secretary VK Pandian faces 'black balloon' protest during Jagatsinghpur visit

Sharpening its voice against 5T Secretary VK Pandian, Odisha BJP workers and leaders on Thursday staged a black flag protest against Pandian’s visit to Jagatsinghpur district. Workers of the saffron party wore black clothes and released black balloons as a sign of protest.

Even women members wore black sarees and took out a rally at Kujang in protest against Pandian’s visit to the district. Wearing black dresses, many workers at Paradip picketed before ADM’s office and shouted slogans against the Pandian who has been accused of behaving like a super Chief Minister.

The 5T Secretary has been accused of conducting public meetings and announcing sops by bypassing public representatives in the state. Earlier, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi and Odisha BJP Chief Manmohan Samal had complained against the 5T Secretary following which the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) asked Odisha government to take necessary action against him.

On the other hand, BJD advised the saffron party to stop indulging in unnecessary allegations and instead reach out to people instead.

Speaking to reporters, BJD leader Prasanna Acharya said, “Chief Minister is the head of decision making. It is the duty of the Chief Minister and he has the right to designate a person or give him any duty. So, there is no dereliction of power. He has not given his chief ministerial power in someone’s hand. He has only assigned a few duties to every leader and worker of the party and that also applies to government officials. He has the constitutional right to assign any government official any work.”

“Even the ministers and Chief Secretary have been directed by the CM to reach out to people on ground zero. So, the Opposition should also work for the people instead of leveling baseless allegations,” he added.