Defying Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s whip to the party leaders to desist from making any “negative” comments “on the plea of personal view” about the party and its leaders, senior party leader and former Minister Bishnu Das on Thursday cited his own example, thereby indirectly asking Minister Sanjay Dasburma to step down on moral ground over his alleged involvement in the chit fund scam.
Das, who is the BJD Jagatsinghpur district president, said, “When I was the School and Mass Education Minister, an allegation came to fore involving my son. It was alleged that my son’s marks in the HSC examination had been increased arbitrarily. Soon after this, I put in my papers on moral grounds.”
Replying a media query whether Dasburma should follow his instance, Das said, “How can I sayIJ I wanted to quit and resigned. Perhaps, he does not. It depends on him whether he will resign or not on moral ground.”
On the other hand, party spokesperson Pratap Jena said the statements being given by leaders against the CM’s advice are being examined.
Meanwhile, a day after Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan targeted the Chief Minister for his silence on the raging controversy over Dasburma’s alleged links with the AT chit fund company chief Pradip Sethy, BJD spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb on Thursday blasted Pradhan by reminding him about his alleged links with the Madhya Pradesh Vyapam scam and the criminal Dhalsamant brothers.
“The main accused in the Vyapam scam had mentioned the name of the Union Minster Pradhan in his I-T return noting he had booked air tickets for the Union Minister. But here, he has raised the CM’s morality and while talking of morality, the same rule should apply to him (Pradhan),” said Deb.
Secondly, on the link between persons with criminal background and politicians, Deb said, “Pradhan had stated that an accused is not guilty until proven guilty by the court of law. Does the rule apply only when his name is dragged with a person having criminal antecedentsIJ”
Notably, on Wednesday, Pradhan had said the Chief Minister should answer on the recent talks about Dasburma’s links with chit fund companies and questioned his morality.