VK Pandian knows nothing about Odisha: Congress' Panchanan Kanungo

Senior Congress leader Panchanan Kanungo took a swipe at BJD leader VK Pandian and said the latter knows nothing about Odisha. 

While terming the BJD leader as the 'mobile spokesperson', Kanungo said, “Pandian doesn’t know anything about Biju Babu and Odisha. He said Paradip port was set up when Biju Patnaik was Union Minister. When he was made the chairman of the State Planning Board, he took the initiative to set up Paradip Port. He brought Jawaharlal Nehru to Odisha to lay the foundation stone of the port. Similarly, the IOCL was not established during Naveen Patnaik’s time. It was set up when Janaki Ballabh Patnaik was the Chief Minister.”

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Launching a verbal attack on the BJD leader, Kanungo said, “First, he (Pandian) should read about Odisha’s economics, politics, and history. I am not talking about his homework. I am saying he has not read anything about Odisha. If he had slight knowledge about Odisha, he wouldn’t have made such goof up." 

Over the statements of the senior Congress leader, comments from neither VK Pandian nor the BJD could be obtained. 

Notably, a group of Congress members opposed VK Pandian’s visit to Puri and waved black flags on Saturday. 

When Pandian arrived in front of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) office, Puri, Congress members showed black flags and raised ‘Pandian go back’ slogans in front of him opposing the demolition of heritage buildings in Puri in the name of Parikrama Project and his bringing YouTuber Kamiya Jani to Srimandir.