Eggs hurled on 5T Secy VK Pandian’s carcade in Sonepur

Protests have started to gain momentum over 5T Secretary VK Pandian’s whirlwind tour to different parts of Odisha. This time, eggs were hurled at Pandian’s carcade near Kota Samalei-Ulunda road in Sonepur district on Tuesday.

As per initial reports, eggs were hurled at 5T Secretary’s carcade during his visit to the district by the activists of the Aam Aadmi Party. A group of activists of the party hurled eggs protesting 5T Secretary’s visit.

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The district unit of Congress in Sonepur had earlier opposed the 5T Secretary’s visit to the region. The BJP is also staging a demonstration today.

In a tweet, Aam Aadmi Party’s Odisha unit said that the party believes in democratic means to resolve any issue. “The egg attack is against the party’s ideology and disciplinary action will be taken against the party activists involved in the incident. However, the party will continue to oppose Naveen Patnaik government as per the party’s policy and alternative measures,” read the tweet. 

Congress MLA, Tara Prasad Bahinipati said, “There is no objection to reaching out to people. But there are differences between going on a political visit and a non-political visit.”

Responding to the Opposition allegations, BJD MLA Parshuram Dhada said, “There is no opposition at all. People are with developments and we cannot say if anyone does anything out of jealousy.  If you look at the meetings, there is acceptance by people.”

Both BJP and Congress have been opposing the 5T Secretary’s visit by raising questions at press conference. It is for the first time that the activists of a political party have opposed the 5T Secretary by hurling eggs at his carcade, said senior journalist Akshay Sahu.

“The 5T Secretary is visiting different places and recently he also played an audio message of CM Naveen Patnaik. Now the people are witnessing that MLAs and Ministers are becoming powerless while the only bureaucrat is enjoying all powers. The state politics is now vested on a particular person. Earlier, the power was vested on Pyari Mohan Mohapatra and now on 5T Secretary,” said Sahu.

Earlier, the Opposition parties had alleged that the 5T Secretary is violating the service conduct rules. The Opposition also alleged that 5T Secretary in the name of government programmes is promoting the ruling BJD.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday had slammed the 5T Secretary and questioned why the Odisha Chief Secretary is not replying to the letter issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoP&T).

Addressing a presser, state BJP Spokesperson Satyabrata Panda stated that Chief Secretary’s absolute silence on the matter indicates that the entire administration has been crippled in Odisha.