Orissa chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Monday sacked state housing, urban development and excise minister Sarada Prasad Nayak from his council of ministers for his alleged involvement in the failed May 29 “coup” bid led by party Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra.
Mr Nayak is the third minister to be sacked in the BJD revolt. Earlier, women and child development Anjali Behera and transport minister Sanjeev Sahoo were dismissed from the state Cabinet for joining hands with the rebel leader.
The CM had also suspended dissident leader Mohapatra and two MLAs — Pravat Ranjan Biswal and Bibhuti Bhusan Balabantray — for engineering the plot. In another development, Mr Mohapatra ruled out any possibility of a rapprochement with Mr Patnaik and also dismissed speculation about floating a new outfit.
“Since he has described me a beimaan (cheat)” and midnight chor, I can no longer sit with him and work together for the party. At present, I do not have any plan to float any new party,” Mr Mohapatra told reporters.
Known as “Chanakya” in BJD politics, Mr Mohapatra targeted the CM’s ignorance of the Odiya language to drive home the point that he was disconnected from the development of the land and its people. “People have elected him for three terms. But has he honoured their mandate? Does he understand the language of the land? I tried to teach him Odiya through a professor, but I failed as he did not respond to the professor’s teaching,” he said.