Bhubaneswar/Paralakhemundi: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the State government will bear the medical expenses of Parala Maharaja Gajapati Narayan Deb, who has been admitted to Apollo Hospital in Chennai for treatment.
The Chief Minister also directed Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak to visit Chennai and enquire about the health condition of the Parala Maharaj.
The Gajapati district administration informed that the treatment of the seriously ill Maharaja is going on in Chennai in the presence of his family members.
Gajapati Collector Sudhansu Mohan Samal said, “The Maharaja’s family is with him and the treatment is on at the Apollo Hospital.”
Meanwhile, the manager of the Maharaja Pratisthana Ananga Manjari Patra and her brother and Personal Assistant of the king Sanjay Patra today resigned from their posts.
“I have submitted my resignation and handed it over to the king’s daughter. Today my sister also submitted her papers,” the Maharaja’s personal assistant said.
In a related development, local legislator K. Suriya Rao and BJP leaders today observed a relay hunger strike demanding immediate arrest of the Parala Maharaj’s manager and her brothers on charges of deliberately neglecting his health condition in an effort to usurp the king’s properties.
“I have lodged an FIR against the manager and her two brothers and demanded a probe into the scam perpetrated by them,” Rao said.
G. Ravana, BJP District President, said, “The party workers of the State will do everything for the Parala Maharaja.”
Terming the Opposition’s attack on the issue as ‘politicisation’, K. Narayan Rao, BJD leader, said, “The king has not been keeping well for the past two years. In the name of property dispute, the BJP and Congress are politicising the matter without thinking about his health.”
Senior Congress leader Chandrasekhar Sahu visited the leaders observing the relay hunger strike and demanded a thorough probe into the matter.
Notably, yesterday, the Parala Maharaja was taken to Chennai and admitted to the hospital after allegations of medical negligence of the king and keeping him under house arrest were levelled against the manager and the PA.