Naveen called minister a bloody fellow: Mohapatra

Bhubaneswar: Suspended BJD leader and MP Pyari Mohan Mohapatra today alleged that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had threatened Sarada Prasad Nayak before sacking him from the council of ministers. “Patnaik had called Nayak over phone and addressed him as bloody fellow and also threatened to destroy him,” Mohapatra told reporters in Bhubaneswar.[caption id=“attachment_332101” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“BJD chief Naveen Patnaik. Image courtesy PIB”]  [/caption] Mohapatra said this while reacting to the chief minister’s action of dismissing Nayak from the council of ministers this afternoon. Nayak was housing and urban development minister with additional charge of excise department in the Naveen government. “In his reply, Nayak had told the chief minister not to use the word bloody fellow against him” Mohapatra said adding that his (Nayak) dismissal was expected. When contacted, Nayak declined to comment saying he did not want to be dragged into further controversies. Patnaik’s reaction over Mohapatra’s allegation was not immediately available. Stating that Patnaik had been hit by a sense of “insecurity”, Mohapatra claimed the CM had already asked the Mayors of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to tender resignation. “He suspected the two mayors to be my loyalists. This is undemocratic to ask elected peoples representatives to resign,” Mohapatra said claiming that barring four to five ministers, all were loyal to him. Reassuring that there was no threat from him to the Naveen Patnaik government, Mohapatra said that he did not believe in groupism. “I think all the 104 BJD MLAs including the chief minister are close to me,” the suspended BJD leader said. PTI