Maharathy is a Jatra actor, don’t take him seriously: Govt chief whip

Bhubaneswar: All seems not well within the ruling-BJD owing to the recent war of words which has been continuing between senior leaders, both inside and outside Odisha Assembly.

A day after senior BJD leader and Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari trained his guns at MLA Pradeep Maharathy over defunct cold storages and agriculture in the State, Maharathy today responded and launched a scathing attack at the former in his own style.

Maharathy said, “It was during my tenure that a lot of cold storages were established. Nobody can question my dedication and efficiency. Whatever Niranjan Pujari said yesterday has hurt me the most in my 40-year political career and I have not taken food since yesterday."

He further demanded that whatever Pujari said in Assembly should not go on record. In his response, Speaker SN Patro said the matter will be reviewed and if at all there is something objectionable, it will not be recorded in the House proceedings.

However, the BJP members demanded that nothing should be dropped from records.

Earlier, Pujari while responding to the queries on behalf of Food Supplies Minister Ranendra Swain, took a jibe and said Maharathy has a doctorate in Agriculture department. During Maharathy’s tenure as Agriculture Minister the potato mission was launched and then shut down.

Amidst the ongoing war of words between two party leaders, government chief whip Pramila Mallick today took a dig at Maharathy by stating that, “Pradeep Maharathy is a Jatra actor and it is his style of talking. We should not take him seriously.”

Malick further said that,” Maharathy is a diabetic and how can he come to the House without food.”

Responding to Malick, Maharathy said, “She (Malick) is my elder sister. But I don’t know when she studied medicine.”

Govt chief whip Pramila Mallick says, ‘Pradeep Maharathy is diabetic and he would not have skipped food. He is acting just like a jatra artist’

Pradeep Maharathy responds, ‘When did she (Mallick) study medicine?’ pic.twitter.com/ww7LesNdST

— OTV (@otvnews) July 18, 2019