After projecting him as “lord Krishna”, Revenue & Disaster Management Minister Surjya Narayan Patro has this time described Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as a “Kamadhenu”.
Kamadhenu in mythological term, which means the Holy Cow, gives whatever one wishes from it.
Patro’s fresh eulogy of Patnaik came at a meeting at Brahmapur as he was highlighting several welfare schemes launched by the Chief Minister.
Patro said Naveen Patnaik has announced schemes for different sections of the society. Beginning from tribals to disabled persons to Government employees, the Patnaik-led BJD Government has been trying to fulfil requirements of all, Patro said.
However, Patro’s statement was itself objected at the meeting venue attended by ASHA Workers. “No, Naveen is not a Kamadhenu for us,” roared a large number of ASHA Workers drawn from the nook and corner of Ganjam, the native district of both Patnaik and Patro.
The ASHA Workers, who recently staged a demonstration at the State capital seeking certain benefits, are denied of their rights. They had come to attend the Chief Minister’s meeting expecting that he would make an announcement for fulfilling their demands.
Frustrated over not getting any assurance from Patnaik, the ASHA Workers held their protest at the meeting itself notwithstanding that they had come to attend the meeting meant for them.
And this left Patro embarrassed as he had hoped that the people of Ganjam would like to listen to the Chief Minister, a son of their soil, with a sense of admiration.
In fact, Patro has been courting controversies again and again for his abundant adulatory references to Naveen Patnaik. Earlier while addressing a meeting at the same Brahmapur, he had termed him and other Ministers as servants of the Biju Parivar.
And Naveen Patnaik has not given any impression that he feels embarrassed for his Minister’s remarks. Had he felt so, he would have advised Patro against similar repetitions after the first instance, say political observers.