In the wake of strong reactions by his own party leaders for his criticism of Congress veteran JB Patnaik, Union Minister Srikant Jena now has softened his stand.
“JB Patnaik is an elderly and respectable person. I have nothing personal against him. He was the Chief Minister of the State for a long time and also a Central Minister. I never said he has not done anything for the State. I must say he has contributed significantly to the State,” said Jena in his latest statement.
Jena, a day back, had alleged that JB Patnaik as the Chief Minister for 15 long years had not developed the State.
Interestingly, Jena even acknowledged the ‘contributions’ of Biju Patnaik and current Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the development of the State.
PCC leader Arya Kumar Jnanendra had on Wednesday demanded stringent intra-party action against Jena for his outburst against JB Patnaik.
Senior party leader and former PCC chief Niranjan Patnaik had also rejected Jena’s statement, claiming that Odisha was not at bottom of the list of poor States when JB Patnaik was the Chief Minister.