BHUBANESWAR: Excise Minister Damodar Rout on Saturday created a flutter by indirectly criticising his party colleague and Rajya Sabha member Kalpataru Das for claiming that his wife and son, who availed houses and plots under discretionary quota, constitute separate families.
Rout told mediapersons that if a son is a major, married and stays separately, he can be considered a separate family. But, if the son stayed with his father’s family, the claim is not correct. Besides, how can a wife be considered a separate family, he asked.
Rout said at the time of applying for a plot or a house in Bhubaneswar, a person has to swear an affidavit that he or his family members do not have a plot or a house in the Capital.
Whoever violated the law, from BJD, BJP or Congress is guilty, he said.
The issue of misuse of discretionary quota by senior BJD leader had rocked the Assembly for three days during the week with BJP MLAs disrupting proceedings in the House demanding a statement of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the issue.