ROURKELA: Labour and ESI minister and Rourkela MLA Sarada Prasad Nayak has always played to the gallery and once again his recent actions in public have stirred up a controversy, raising the ire of his opponents apart from surprising many.
According to sources, Nayak attended a Qawwali show on Tuesday night at a hotel in Sundargarh district headquarters, organized by the Muslim Youth Committee. During the performance, as a Quwwali song reached its crescendo, some spectators began showering the singer with currency notes. To the surprise of many, Nayak joined in and started doing the same, following the encouragement of the event organisers. He even danced his way towards the stage with a tray full of high-denomination currency notes, which he also tossed towards the singer.
In another incident, the minister was spotted measuring blood pressure levels and attempting to insert a needle into the peripheral vein of the arm of a BJD activist during a blood donation event at the Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) in the presence of female nursing staff.
Nayak staunchly defended his actions, explaining that during the Qawwali show, the money did not belong to him, nor was it black money. “Encouraged by the event organizers, I followed the Qawwali tradition of honouring the singer and the team. It is unnecessary and unfortunate to misrepresent my intentions,” the minister said, adding, that he had an interest in dance during his college days, and the organizers were aware of this.
The minister also explained that a blood donor from his party had insisted that he collect blood, and he attempted the procedure in the presence of a staff nurse without posing any risk. Sources close to Nayak stated that the Minister used to do such acts, during a health workers’ strike at RGH in 2019, and volunteered as a support staff. Additionally, his sudden presence at road repair sites just before Durga Puja in 2019 pushed the sluggish engineers of the Rourkela Municipal Corporation and the Works Department to expedite their work.
Former Congress MLA of Rourkela, Pravat Mohapatra, however, was sceptical about the Minister’s performance and claimed that Nayak was resorting to political gimmicks deliberately to stay in the limelight.