Rajya Sabha BJD member Baisnab Charan Parida has hit his party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik where it hurts the latter most.Parida, who seems to have embarked upon a campaign for protection and promotion of Odia language, has remarked that Patnaik, as supreme ruler of the State, should learn and speak Odia.
Significantly, Patnaik has been under attack by opposition parties and several other quarters for having failed to speak and write in the State’s own language even after becoming Chief Minister for long 14 years,
Parida, who rose to prominence as a Rajya Sabha member due to the blessings of Pyarimohan Mohapatra, the then BJD heavyweight and advisor to Naveen Patnaik, has also advised Patnaik to promote Odia in the fields of State administration, judiciary and business. Parida, who joined the BJD a few years ago after defecting from one party to another, was catapulted to his present position in the State’s ruling party soon after coming to its fold only because of his loyalty to Pyarimohan Mohapatra. However, like most of Mohapatra’s former loyalists in the BJD, he has so far distanced from Mohapatra’s Odisha Jan Morcha.
Parida, who was addressing a Press conference at Sambalpur on Wednesday, even claimed that he has been advising Patnaik to learn Odia since long.