Bhubaneswar: Years after being unceremoniously sacked from the post and charged with financial irregularities in what has been alleged to be an utter vindictive move by the BJD government, former Odisha DGP and BJP’s Cuttack Lok Sabha candidate Prakash Mishra today opened up about his bitter spat with the ruling government.
While participating in OTV’s Khola Katha, Mishra said that Naveen government was miffed over seizure of BJD money which was being transported in an ambulance during 2014 elections.
“When I was the DGP of the State during the last election, I had directed officers to be impartial while dealing with illegal cash flow during the polls. During that time, some instances of seizure of cash belonging to the ruling BJD came to fore. It irked the ruling party and they accused me of working at the behest of BJP in spite of the fact that I had no political affiliations during that time.”
Mishra said Odisha government was also reluctant to hand over the Saradha chit fund probe to CBI despite orders from the Supreme Court.
“The government made itself a party to the case and opposed the SC-ordered probe in Kolkata saying that it was fully capable of carrying out a fair investigation into the case by itself. I think the government was uncomfortable with my investigation because I had recommended for a probe under Money Laundering Act and accordingly it was almost poised to be handed over to the Enforcement Directorate but before it could happen, I was shunted out.”
The former top cop said that there is no democracy in Odisha and the State is moving towards a dictatorial form of governance, because power has been centralised and bureaucrats are given undue importance.
“The entire government machinery is run from the Chief Minister’s office and the power is completely centralised. Other department secretaries do not have a personal decision making in the functioning of the government,” said Mishra.
Coming down hard on the State government, Mishra said ruling party is using the people of Odisha as lab rats and testing various schemes on them to check which ones will fetch votes for them.
Meanwhile, in response to Mishra’s allegations, BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra questioned why the BJP leader was silent on the matter since last five years.
“If he (Mishra) boasts himself of having clean image and reputation of being honest, what is the reason behind his silence since the past five years? All of a sudden why is he bringing out such allegations now when he has been selected as BJP’s candidate? Does it not show political motive?” questioned Patra.