Bhubaneswar: Odisha Congress has asked Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik to take action against his political secretary Santrupt Misra for allegedly making a comparison between Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and bureaucrat turned politician VK Pandian.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das Monday said the party will not tolerate any “disrespect” to the country’s first Prime Minister.
“We have given a seven-day ultimatum to Naveen Babu to take action against Misra otherwise, the Congress activists will gherao Naveen Niwas (Patnaik’s residence). We will not tolerate any disrespect to the country’s first Prime Minister Nehru who has a lot of contributions to the development of Odisha,” Mishra said.
When PTI contacted Misra, he said: “I have not told anything wrong. I am not a fool to make a comparison between Nehru Ji and VK Pandian. My statement is distorted and presented in such a manner. I took the name of Nehru Ji under certain context and not made any comparison.”
“Anybody interested in truth must listen to my interview. In this case, there is no attention to the fact and truth,” Misra said.
Misra in interviews to separate Odia news channels had stated that there should not be discussion on the persons. The debate should be on issues and on development, he said.
Misra was quoted in the interview saying: “People are discussing about Nehru, the alleged wrong done by him even after 60 years. Similarly, we have now Pandian, an equivalent of Nehru in Odisha. That is why people are discussing about him though he has played a great role in the development of Odisha.”
Expressing strong displeasure over the alleged comparison between Nehru and Pandian, the OPCC president said the BJD was formed in the name of former chief minister Biju Patnaik who was a close aide of Nehru.
“Biju Babu himself respected Nehru. Misra who does not have any political background and was an employee of a private company, has compared him with Pandian,” Das said.
The Congress leader also blamed Patnaik and said that Misra dared to make such a comparison only because the BJD president defended his trusted aide Pandian after the Waqf Bill controversy.
“Naveen Babu defended Pandian but he has no time to pull up his political secretary for such type of a statement,” Das said.
He demanded that the BJD president should take action against Misra within seven days. “Congress cannot tolerate such disrespect towards Nehru,” he added.
PTI
