BHUBANESWAR: A number of senior BJP and Congress leaders attended a prayer meeting organised in memory of Bansidhar Panda at New Delhi even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid rich tributes to noted industrialist who passed away on May 22.
Those who attended the prayer meeting included Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former deputy PM LK Advani, Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar, former Union Minister Salman Khurshid, BJP MP Anurag Thakur, former Union Minister P Chidambaram, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister Rajyavardhan singh Rathore, senior Congress leader Rajeev Gowda, BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli, former union ministers from Congress Arun Singh and Hansraj Bharadwaj.
However, none from the BJD attended the prayer meeting. Presence of such a large number of BJP and Congress leaders at the prayer meeting has, however, led political observers to believe that both the parties are trying woo his MP son Baijayant Panda, who recently resigned from the BJD.
Sources, however, maintained that Baijayant will take a call on his political future after June 11 when he will visit Puri Jagannath temple.Describing Panda as one of India’s foremost Karmayogis, the Prime Minister said in a message, “This loss is felt not only by your family but by the whole nation, and especially the people of Odisha whose lives he strived to transform.
“Panda, a scientist who studied in the topmost universities of the world including Harvard and Michigan Technological University, and later worked abroad, could have lived a life of comfort anywhere in the world,” he said and added, “that he began to pursue his entrepreneurial dream in a remote place in Odisha stands as testimony to his great sense of responsibility towards working for his people,” he said.
Describing Panda as an unparalleled institution builder, Modi said he also left behind a number of institutions that will continue to do great service to the nation. “His special friendship with Biju Babu, another giant of Odisha, both of whom shared a vision of Odisha’s development, will always be remembered.”