Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday condemned the attack on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s Principal Private Secretary V Karthikeyan Pandian’s residence by BJP Yuva Morcha activists on Saturday and said in a democracy any form of violence cannot be approved.
If some youth members of BJP have done something illegal, they should be punished as per law, Pradhan added.
However, he said, “The Chief Minister and his party have condemned the attack (on Pandian’s house), but why they were silent during three similar incidents that had occurred in 2017.
Why the Chief Minister and the officers’ associations kept mum after a mob ransacked the residences of Collector Rashmita Panda in Nabarangpur on September 17, 2017 and Technical Education Secretary Sanjay Singh by ruling party youths and when people barged into the residence of the former Minister Damodar Rout in protests, he questioned.
Besides, Union Ministers Santosh Gangwar and Sadhvi Niranjana were also attacked by BJD workers in Bargarh, but the Chief Minister didn’t utter a word, he said.
Without naming bureaucrats, Pradhan stated that those who are interested in politics should resign from their posts and enter political field. He warned the bureaucrats not to get involved in politics while drawing salary from the hard-earned money of people of the State.