BJD MlA from Bari and former Minister Debasis Nayak on Thursday expressed his disappointment over not a single party MlA from Jajpur district finding place in the new Naveen Patnaik-led Ministry as a Cabinet Minister.
Speaking to this correspondent over telephone, Nayak said that although the BJD won all the seven Assembly seats in the district, only one of them has been taken in the Council of Ministers with a Minister of State rank.
“It’s time for all the BJD MlAs and the MP from Jajpur to sit down and debate on non-representation of the district in the Cabinet. There was a time when the districts used to have three Ministers, including two with Cabinet rank, in the Council of Ministers,” Nayak pointed out. He observed that the district did not get a Cabinet berth “as somebody is after somebody”. Asked if he was suggesting sabotage by the district BJD leaders or State-level party functionaries, Nayak said it would be known very soon.
It may be mentioned that from the district only Jajpur MlA Pranab Prakash Das has been taken as a Minister of State with the portfolios of Energy and Information Technology.