Bhubaneswar: BJD's Dhenkanal MP Tathagata Satpathy said that in politics he doesn't consider himself anyone's servant.
While replying to one of his followers on Twitter, Tathagata tweeted "... I am not anyone's servant. Never, ever, had a Boss."
The remark came after the follower questioned whether a photograph posted by the parliamentarian will not offend the bosses. Interestingly, the photograph in question also featured suspended MP Baijayant Panda and Bhartruhari Mahtab, who has written a letter to the Lok Sabha speaker seeking a separate seat in the chamber for the former.
In response the Dhenkanal MP also stated "Accept to learn from all who seem sane. Immediately reject imbeciles. Life is short, no reason to cower; believe in living for my beliefs."
However, in a second tweet he was quick to point " Oops, sorry. Not one or 'A'. I got millions of Oriya citizens, especially from Dhenkanal-Angul, as my Bosses. I bow only to them and eternally grateful for all their kindness & forgiveness. May Lord Jagannath bless them all."
Responding to his twitter comments, a Dhenkanal resident said "He has said a very good thing by accepting the public and voters as his bosses."
"People are the bosses of every public representative. He has said nothing wrong," said another Dhenkanal resident.
Earlier, minister Surya Narayan Patro had once in a public rally in Ganjam district said that he felt “proud to be a servant of his leader.” Few days back, while speaking during a discussion at OTV’s Annual Convention - Foresight 2018, BJD MP Kalikesh Singh Deo had stated, “In today’s political structure the Prime Minister or the Chief Ministers are the absolute bosses and one has to do ‘Ji Huzuri’ as you do not have any choice.”
However, BJD spokesperson Samir Dash has denied prevalence of authoritarianism in the party.
"I don't know on what context Tathagata has given such remarks so I will not comment on that. However, public is definitely the boss and the Chief Minister also believes that we are servants of public," said Dash.
Terming the statements of Tathagata as a mark of protest within the party, senior journalist Rajaram Satpathy said, "The party leader is acting on his own will as we have vested all the powers on him. If such a mentality prevails in future, similar protests will be seen more."