And this is what endeared him to masses in Odisha.
“Probity in public life was the hallmark. In the editorial, the BJD lawmaker said Naveen Patnaik’s USP during the first decade of his rule was zero tolerance to crime and corruption. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJD) and the Congress have stepped up attacks on the Naveen Patnaik government, saying they want the chief minister to sack his minister who was alleged to have been close to the murder accused, Gobind Sahu, president of the managing committee that runs the school where the teacher was employed.Ĭhief minister Naveen Patnaik hasn’t spoken on the controversy yet. The scathing observation in a front-page editorial in Odia daily Sambad edited by the legislator comes against the backdrop of the chief minister’s hands-off approach to the raging controversy around the minister of state for home Dibya Shankar Mishra for his proximity to the prime accused in the murder of a school teacher in the state’s Kalahandi district. BHUBANESWAR: Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) lawmaker Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who has occasionally taken a stand independent of the party line, on Wednesday said chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s first decade in the state’s top seat was marked by zero tolerance to crime and corruption but his latest actions are dictated by political expediency.