BHUBANESWAR: A day after Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi claimed that he was offered ministerial berth and other inducements by the previous government to stop fighting against mining mafia, the BJD on Monday said he should stop behaving like a leader of opposition political party and maintain the dignity of his position.
Reacting to the statement of Majhi, deputy chief whip of BJD legislature party Pratap Deb said, “The chief minister should have made it public when he was offered inducements. But why was he silent?”
Deb said it is unfortunate that the chief minister is making such statements and announcing that no one will be spared in the mining scam. Before making any statement on the mining scam, he should recall what his leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in the Parliament praising the previous state government.
“In Parliament, the prime minister had praised Odisha’s mining reforms. He also praised former chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s work in the federal system. Chief Minister Majhi should accept his leader’s words,” he said and added that the BJD is ready to counter all allegations.
Addressing a public meeting at Keonjhar stadium on Sunday, the chief minister had held the previous BJD government responsible for the loot of mineral resources in the district. “When I was the Opposition chief whip, I was asked to leave the BJP and also offered a mine in Keonjhar. I was also promised the post of a minister,” he claimed.
Majhi also said those responsible for looting mineral resources of the district will not be spared and will be sent to jail.