Tamil Nadu contractors controlling Odisha government, says Smriti Irani

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CHENNAI: Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani on Saturday targeted VK Pandian, the close aide of BJD leader and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, to launch a scathing attack on the ruling party during a marathon election campaign in the State.

Addressing three public gatherings at Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Balasore Parliamentary constituencies on Saturday, Smriti said the BJD government in Odisha is remote-controlled by a Tamil officer and some contractors from Tamil Nadu.

"The Tamil Nadu-born officer of this remote-controlled government here failed to tell why he suppressed the report of the commission on the missing keys of Ratna Bhandar (treasury of Shree Jagannath Temple at Puri). I am here to warn the remote control that the probe report will be brought to the fore after the BJP comes to power.

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"Whosoever found guilty behind the Ratna Bhandar issue won't be spared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Smriti Irani said during a public address in Jagatsinghpur.

Naveen’s close aide Pandian, a 2000 batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre, applied for voluntary retirement on October 20 and got the approval on October 23. He was appointed as the chairman of 5T and Nabin Odisha programmes within hours after his voluntary retirement proposal was accepted.

Since then, the BJP has been targeting him to take on the BJD.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the same allegation that the keys of Puri Jagannath temple were taken to Tamil Nadu, which evoked sharp response from not only the BJD leadership but also from DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin and AIADMK general secretary and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami.

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