Odisha: MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik faraway from BJD VP submit after his criticism of CM’s favorite IAS officer VK Pandian

As the 2024 election attracts nearer, a cyclonic storm is creating within the in any other case ‘calm’ and non-controversial political atmosphere of Odisha politics. On twelfth September, Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Pattnaik was faraway from the submit of vp of the ruling BJD.

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Biju Janata Dal (BJD) removes Soumya Ranjan Patnaik from the submit of Vice-President with fast impact

(File pic) pic.twitter.com/JLASJQNVY0

— OTV (@otvnews) September 12, 2023

Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who’s a former MP and the proprietor of the media conglomerate Sambada Group, has just lately been very vocal in opposition to the 5T Secretary VK Pandian and his function because the alleged ‘proxy CM’ in Odisha.

VK Pandian, a serving IAS officer, has lengthy been considered CM Naveen Patnaik’s Man Friday. He has been CM Patnaik’s non-public secretary for over 12 years. Though his function in state politics has been principally ‘behind the scenes’ all these years, in latest months, the IAS officer has been very seen. He even travels in helicopters and supervises quite a few improvement and governance tasks, brazenly declaring that he’s doing it on the orders of the CM.

In June this yr, a number of political leaders wrote a letter to the Union authorities’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) concerning the ‘controversial’ function of Pandian. The DoPT had issued a discover to the state authorities on this regard.

Of late, it has been seen that many elected MPs and MLAs, even highly effective ministers of the ruling BJD have been ‘following orders’ from VK Pandian, and lengthening the identical quantity of reverence to him as they’d to the CM himself. Pandian is being more and more offered as a proxy CM earlier than the folks of the state, the place he’s greeted with flowers, rituals, and garlands, and his ‘tours’ are promoted by the state equipment by authorities channels.

Souma Patnaik’s media conglomerate is Odisha’s largest media firm. With the newspaper Sambada, information channel Kanak TV, and quite a few different leisure and information platforms, the media home has a attain to nearly each family in Odisha.

On eleventh September, Soumya Patnaik acknowledged that simply because he was vital of the BJD authorities’s work, the BJD authorities stopped giving ads to his channels and newspapers.

Soumy Patnaik himself is the editor-in-chief of Sambada newspaper and just lately, he penned a powerful editorial in opposition to the Navin Patnaik authorities, particularly elevating questions on the difficulty of a serving IAS officer enjoying the function of a proxy CM within the state.

Kanak News has reported that the letter notifying Soumya Patnaik of his removing from the get together VP submit has been sudden and there was no ‘show cause’ discover served to him.

BJD letter eradicating Soumya Patnaik from the submit of BJD VP

Speaking by his media channels, Soumya Patnaik had acknowledged just lately that ‘BJD is nobody’s paternal property’. He added that the get together belongs to the folks of Odisha and all get together leaders and employees would determine the way it ought to be run. “The government has stopped giving us advertisements because some people are upset with the valid criticisms I raised. But they should remember that a media house does not run on anyone’s government’s mercy. It is run by love and support from the readers”, he mentioned.

‘#ଦଳ_କାହାର_ପୈତୃକ_ସମ୍ପତ୍ତି_ନୁହେଁ’
ଦୋହରାଇଲେ ସୌମ୍ୟରଞ୍ଜନ ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ । କହିଲେ, ତାଙ୍କ କଥାକୁ ସମର୍ଥନ କରୁଛନ୍ତି ରାଜ୍ୟବାସୀ । ରାଗ ରଖି ସମ୍ବାଦକୁ ବିଜ୍ଞାପନ ବନ୍ଦ କରିଦେଇଛନ୍ତି ସରକାର, ଲୋଡ଼ା ପାଠକଙ୍କ ଆଶୀର୍ବାଦ । ଏପଟେ ସୌମ୍ୟଙ୍କୁ ଟାର୍ଗେଟ କଲେ ଅମର ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ । #KanakNews #BJD #Odisha #SoumyaRanjanPatnaik pic.twitter.com/yLZqpn1QtM

— Kanak News (@kanak_news) September 10, 2023

In a powerful editorial revealed in Sambada newspaper weeks in the past, Soumya Patnaik had raised questions on the BJD authorities’s work within the state and had particularly focused the difficulty that IAS officer VK Pandian has been ‘touring’ the state in a helicopter and spending tons of of crores of tax payer’s cash. He had additionally objected to the ‘unconstitutional’ apply of a serving IAS officer ‘ruling’ over elected public representatives.

After the mentioned editorial, on quite a few events, Soumya Patnaik has used numerous platforms to criticize the functioning of the Odisha authorities. He has additionally raised the difficulty of corrupt bureaucrats, lack of employment alternatives within the state, and authorities insurance policies.

Soumya Patnaik was a Congress chief, and an elected MP for a number of years earlier than becoming a member of the BJD in 2018. He was then nominated to the Rajya Sabha. In the 2019 meeting elections, he gained as an MLA from Khandapada seat on a BJD ticket. He is married to Sudatta Patnaik, the daughter of deceased Congress chief and former Odisha CM Janaki Ballabh Patnaik. Soumya Patnaik’s brother Niranjan Patnaik was the Odisha Congress chief for a number of years until his removing in 2022.