Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, Sep 20:

BJD vice-president and Odisha Excise & Cooperation minister Dr Damodar Rout today said the former finance minister Prafulla Ghadai did not learn any lesson from the Pyari Mohapatra episode and that eventually led to his expulsion.

Dr Damodar Rout Dr Damodar Rout

“Ghadai, who is an experienced person in Odisha politics, may have forgotten that an individual is not important in a party. His statement in the media against the party and its president is anti-party activity. The expulsion of Ghadai is the right step for the offence of taking on the party and its supremo,” said Rout in a press statement.

“It is unfortunate that he did not learn any lesson from Pyari Mohan Mohapatra incident, who made a failed attempt to dethrone the government,” Rout observed.

He also accused Ghadai of adopting the path of opportunism instead of following the ideals of Biju Patnaik, the man after whom BJD has been named.

“Ghadai was in Jan Congress, Sangathan Congress and ruling Congress between 1964 and 1990 and raising his voice against Biju Babu. After being rejected by the people, he later joined the Biju Babu’s party with the help of Late Ashok Das. In the later phase, he was made a minister and assigned important portfolios in the Naveen Patnaik government. He may have forgotten all this,” said Rout.

Interestingly, Dr Rout, who has courted controversies and put the party leadership in embarrassing situations a number of times by his out-of-turn caustic comments in the media, has scrupulously steered clear of pointing fingers at the party supremo.