BHUBANESWAR: Amid the ongoing tussle between BJP and BJD over the former’s allegation of politicisation of bureaucracy in Odisha where few officers are calling the shots, former minister Damodar Rout on Sunday came out in support of the state government.
Rout’s support for the government and his statement against BJP MP from Bhubaneswar Aparajita Sarangi has taken the political world by surprise as he is almost in semi-retirement. In a frontal attack on the MP, Rout said Sarangi was preparing for a career in politics even when she was the commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation by using government money on self-propaganda.
People of Bhubaneswar are now facing the consequences of what she had done then, he said adding waterlogging and open drains are creating immense problems for locals. The former minister said the Bhubaneswar MP had targeted an IAS officer who is creating awareness among people on projects launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and eradicating slackness at district-level administration. “The IAS officer is visiting districts, heritage places, reviewing the implementation of school transformation programme and Biju Setu project,” he said.
Incidentally, Rout’s son, Sandeep Routray is BJD MLA from Paradip. But former MLA Debasis Samantray who lost the 2019 election from the Barabati-Cuttack constituency has been eyeing the Paradip Assembly seat.
Samantray, a former MLA from Tirtol had also represented from Barabati-Cuttack city twice in 2009 and 2014. However, with elections less than a year away, Rout has once again become active in Jagagsinghpur politics. Though Rout does not want to enter electoral politics at this age, he reportedly wants his son to be renominated from Paradip seat by BJD.