BHUBANESWAR: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday removed his party’s vice president Soumya Ranjan Patnaik from his post allegedly for his continuous diatribe against the increasing interference of CM’s private secretary VK Pandian in the organizational affairs and questioning the style of functioning of the state government.
“Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, vice president, BJD is hereby removed from the post of vice-president with immediate effect,” the BJD’s one-line order signed by Naveen Patnaik read.
However, the order did not mention the reason for removing Soumya Ranjan from the post of vice-president.
In fact, Pandian is the blue-eyed bureaucrat of the Odisha CM who relies heavily on him for his day-to-day administration.
Some top BJD leaders had targeted Soumya Ranjan Patnaik after the latter criticised the Odisha government and private secretary’s visits to different assembly constituencies in his editorial in Odia daily Sambad. It is suspected that the BJD has resorted to pressure tactics by removing Patnaik from the party’s vice-president post.
Earlier, the BJD leader had made veiled attacks on Pandian and compared his tour expenses on helicopter travelling with the Chandrayaan 3 mission. He estimated that the bureaucrat’s helicopter travel expenses could be to the tune of Rs 600 crore.
On September 9, Soumya Ranjan who represents Khandapara in Odisha Legislative Assembly made an explosive statement that “CM Naveen Patnaik thinks that all his ministers are incapable for which he gets his work done by the VK Pandian.” The legislator stated this while responding to state energy minister Pratap Deb's swipe at him for continuously being critical of the CM’s private secretary in his writings as well as earlier statements.
On Soumya’s removal from BJD’s vice-president post, senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra said, “The action is uncalled for. The BJD should have discussed the matter with him before taking action. The CM has not said anything and no importance should be given to what other leaders of the party say. Earlier, show-cause notices used to be served, but I do not know what has happened here.”
Reacting to the sacking of Patnaik from the VP post, BJD organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das said, "Gratitude is the greatest medium of prayer. Where there is no gratitude, even God does not come to rescue."
Das’ statement was viewed as a snub to Soumya Ranjan who had joined the BJD on March 7, 2018 after leading farmers’ agitations and demonstrations of chit fund scam victims for years.
