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Former Minister and Biju Janata Dal MLA, Arun Sahoo lambasted his own party colleague and Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik by terming him a selfish person working only toward realising his own selfish interests.
Speaking to reporters, Sahoo said, “Soumya Ranjan Patnaik has been disoriented for the last few months. He is trying to portray himself as a great social reformer by saying baseless things about the party and targeting the Chief Minister’s Office. He is visibly restless.”
“He is saying all these things against BJD after failing to become a minister. During his 4.4-year tenure as an MLA, he neither took care of the soil nor the party. Patnaik only knows how to realise his own interest and works toward that goal only. He is trying to blackmail the party. When he failed to do that too, he became violent,” he added.
In reply, Patnaik said, “He (Sahoo) has proved the point I made in my last editorial. His statement about me is proof of his helplessness as a politician. He should introspect before accusing me because he has himself already lost his cabinet berth. I do not want to give him much importance as he has already lost his significance in the party after losing ministerial post.”
As far as my aspirations to become a minister is concerned, his inner soul will tell him the truth if he introspects by remembering Lord Jagannath. I do not want to comment on his statement anymore,” Patnaik added.
Patnaik has lately been vocal about his party BJD, its leaders and the helplessness of ministers in front of 5T secretary VK Pandian. He has been continuously targeting Pandian and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in his editorials.
Recently, Patnaik had stirred up a hornet's nest with an editorial in his own newspaper the Sambad. In the article titled ‘Janmadinara Anuchinta’, Patnaik had trained guns at the 5T secretary and the present state of governance. He had also raised questions on meetings organized at a cost of Rs 300 crore for collecting complaints.
- Reported by:
- Jayendra Behera
