Even as Niranjan Patnaik has emerged in the forefront in the race for a new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, senior party leader Srikant Jena on Wednesday took potshots at him, saying “mine mafias” are ruling the roost in the State politics.
Jena told a Press conference here that he is not able to thrive in politics because of the “mine looters” who are active in all political parties, including the Congress, in the State over the last 15 years.
Though Jena did not name Niranjan Patnaik, his reference to Congress leaders as mine mafias was obviously aimed at the latter since Patnaik belongs to a family of mining leaseholders.
No wonder, Patnaik was quick to hit back at Jena, saying the latter knew best who mine mafias are as he was a Minister at the Centre. Why did not Jena as a Union Minister ensure a CBI inquiry into the mining scam which he demanding nowIJ Patnaik questioned.
Patnaik remarked that there are two kinds of mine looters, one who actually extracted ores illegally and the other who looted mines without being mine leaseholders.
Jena told reporters that Rs 2 lakh crore has been looted due to illegal mining in the last 15 years. He demanded that the Government take over all mines and extract ores.
Notably, Srikant Jena along with a section of State Congress leaders including former PCC president Jayadev Jena and former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das are opposed to Niranjan Patnaik’s leadership. It was reportedly due to lobbying of these leaders that Patnaik had was replaced by Jayadev Jena as PCC chief prior to the 2014 general elections.