Dharmendra tags Naveen as arrogant; Dama counters him

Bhubaneswar: Hitting out at CM Naveen Patnaik for his false propaganda jibe against Opposition parties, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan today came down heavily tagging him as an 'arrogant leader'.

"It's quite natural that a person becomes arrogant after remaining in power for a long time. It is not an exception in case of Naveen Babu. He is saying that Opposition parties are propagating against State government. I want to ask him one if the bridge collapse incidents in Bomikhal (Bhubaneswar), Gurupriya bridge in Malkangiri,Netapur and Bheden are false propaganda? Is the CAG report on irregularities in Anganwadi services and financial irregularities in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) false propaganda?," Pradhan questioned CM Patnaik at a press meet here at BJP State headquarters.

The CM himself has stressed on complete abolition of 'PC' culture. But, the system is more prevalent in PWD and Irrigation departments which are under him. "If opposition rakes up this issue, he calls it false propaganda," Pradhan added.

The BJD, meanwhile, came forward to defend its party chief by countering Pradhan.

"He (Pradhan) has captured power by coaxing the Prime Minister. Not 'Mati' (soil), but party comes first for him. He is utilising government money for his own interests unlike us. His party had got 36 seats when they were with us, the number of seats came down to six after they snapped ties with us," veteran BJD leader Damodar Rout added.

Similarly, party spokesperson Prashant Nanda suggested the Union Minister to refrain from giving any certificate to the CM. "People of Odisha know Naveen Patnaik very well as they have kept him in power for 17 years. The BJP-led NDA government is hijacking State schemes like Mamata Yojana and many more. People have rejected them for last several years," Nanda added.

The CM on Monday had urged his party workers to strongly counter the false propaganda of the Opposition parties against the State government.

Without naming any party, Patnaik advised BJD workers that they should counter the opposition's campaign strongly.

He said while was addressing a gathering of party workers and supporters during inauguration of 10-day-long State-wide ‘Jana Sampark Padayatra’ of the party on Monday.

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