BHUBANESWAR: Dr Damodar Rout, former Cabinet colleague of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, on Tuesday dubbed the latter as a “thief” and dared the CM to take action against him.
“Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has shunted out many of his ministerial colleagues branding them as thieves. But I was shunted out his council of ministers when I dubbed him as a thief,” Dr Rout told reporters here.
The outspoken septuagenarian politician said when he ordered for some major scams in which some top officials were informed, a powerful bureaucrat close to the CM minister conspired to oust him from the council of ministers and he was successful in his mission.
On September 13, Dr Rout was sacked by CM Patnaik for allegedly making anti-party statements. The veteran politician who was also a close associate of Biju Patnaik, Mr Patnaik’s father, has vowed to unseat the BJD government in the coming Assembly elections.
“This government headed by Naveen Patnaik is thoroughly corrupt. Chit fund scam and mining scam are the glaring examples the encouragement and patronisation extended by the present government to the dishonest people. My ultimate aim is to dislodge the government at any cost,” Dr Rout declared.
Reacting to Dr Rout’s remark, BJD leader Ashok Panda said the former minister had no ability to cause any harm to his party (BJD).
