Bhubaneswar: It is BJD versus BJD in the Assembly. The face-off between senior BJD MLA Pradeep Maharathy and Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari continued Thursday.
Objecting to the remarks made by Pujari on the floor of Assembly Wednesday, Maharathy Thursday fired a salvo against the minister saying he was ‘deeply hurt’ and has been fasting since Wednesday.
Speaking during Zero Hour, Maharathy said in the Assembly Thursday that he was pained by Pujari’s comments on the limited number of cold storages in operation in the state.
“The Finance Minister has given a wrong statement in the House that extremely hurt me and I have been fasting since Wednesday. During my 40 years of political career, I have never felt such pain,” he said.
Pujari had Wednesday said there are 128 cold storages in the state, of which only 48 are active and the remaining are lying defunct. All these happened during Maharathy’s tenure as agriculture minister. Pujari, who was answering on behalf of Agriculture Minister, had also mocked the BJD legislator saying Maharathy, who claims to be a son of a farmer, has a doctorate in Agriculture.
“He (Maharathy) was the minister of the department and holds a doctorate on that. The Potato Mission, which was started when Maharathy was the minister, ended with his tenure as well,” Pujari had told the Assembly.
In his reply, Maharathy said, “When I became Agriculture Minister, only 24 cold storages were in operation in the state. I increased the number to 48.”
On Potato Mission, the Pipli legislator said, “The fact is that during my tenure as the Agriculture Minister, the area for potato cultivation in the state was raised from 12,000 hectares to 25,000 hectares under the Potato Mission.”
Stating that the Finance Minister should refrain from questioning his ability and sincerity, Maharathy reminded him that Odisha had bagged the Krishi Karman award for the fourth time during his tenure.
“He should not remain under any impression that he can keep my mouth shut by giving such false statements against me. Does he think that I will remain silent as I am eyeing a vacant post of a minister?” he asked.
He requested the Speaker Surya Narayan Patro to expunge the remarks from the records of the Assembly. The BJD leader also said he would not come to the Assembly if his “grievances are not addressed”.
The Speaker assured Maharathy that he would look into the matter. “I will examine it. If any objectionable remarks have been made, it should be expunged from the Assembly records,” he said.
Pujari refused to comment on Maharathy’s remarks, Thursday.
Meanwhile, the government chief whip Pramila Mallick said she does not believe that Maharathy is on fast as he is a diabetic patient. “He must have eaten something before coming to the Assembly. He has a style of dialogue like that of an opera actor,” she said. Maharathy shot back, saying he had no idea when Mallick “became a doctor”.
