Bhubaneswar: Annoyed over not being invited to the Bhubaneswar Foundation Day celebration by the Odisha Government, BJP leader and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi Wednesday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to order a probe into the matter.
The issue was raised by Sarangi after not finding her name missing from the guest list of the 74th Rajdhani Foundation Day celebration. The event was attended by Odisha Assembly Speaker S N Patro, two minister, city mayor and MLAs.
Expressing displeasure, Sarangi in a twitter post wrote: “13 th April today-This day is celebrated as Rajdhani Pratistha Diwas! There is a big function being organised by the State Govt to mark the day. It has invited almost all EXCEPT ME. I have not been invited. Wanted to attend. It is a big day. Why so?? My fault??”
Later in a letter to the chief minister, the bureaucrat turned politician and BJP MP said: “I had not been invited by the state government to attend the function. Neither the invitation card has my name nor I have been spoken to by anybody in the state government.”
As a public representative of the capital, it is my ‘right’ to be invited to the public function which had been organized by the state government, she said in the letter adding that: “Our political ideologies may be different, but you may kindly agree with me that the state government needs to learn to extend minimum courtesy to the people’s representatives.”
“I would sincerely request you to get this issue of omission enquired into. It does not seem to be an innocuous omission. I humbly expect that the concerned state authorities will be directed by you to enquire into the matter and find out the person/ persons responsible for the omission,” the MP urged.
She also sought a response to the letter. “I am sure that all the people of Bhubaneswar, who have elected me, are deeply hurt today. They would all like to know about the reason behind the omission and about the person/ persons responsible for the same,” she said.
The event was held in front of the Odisha Legislative Assembly building here.
Information and Public Relations Minister Raghunandan Das said that he was not aware of the incident. Similarly, Rajadhani Pratistha Divas Committee president Pradosh Patnaik also said that he was not aware about whether the MP was invited. He said the event was organized by the committee with help of state government. “It is not a fully government function,” Patnaik said.
City BJP president Babu Singh alleged that the MP’s name was deliberately deleted from the list of guest due to political reason.
Jatni’s Congress MLA Suresh Routray also said that it is a “shame” that the MP was not invited for political reason.
Odisha Minister Ashok Chandra Panda said the event should have been organized in a more professional way. There is no such politics behind this, Panda said.
April 13 is celebrated as Bhubaneswar Capital Foundation Day every year. On this day in 1948, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation stone for the city.
PTI
