BHUBANESWAR: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has the tongues wagging in the political circles here after he described veteran BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab as the ‘Bhisma Pitamaha’ in the Kaurava sena in Odisha.
Pradhan made the statements while speaking at a book release function in New Delhi on Tuesday. Besides exposing the growing animosity between the two main rivals in Odisha politics, BJD and BJP, Pradhan’s statements also pointed towards the growing bonhomie between the saffron party and the six-time BJD MP from Cuttack. His closeness to the BJP central leadership has also given rise to speculation about his future political plans.
Targeting the Odisha government over the state of women in Odisha, Pradhan described those in power in the state, have not read Jagyaseni (the story of Draupadi), the award winning novel written by Pratibha Ray and are not aware about the sensibilities of women.
Stating that Mahtab has brought immense pride to Odisha as a six-time MP, he said like ‘Bhisma Pitamaha,’ he will choose when to end his political career. But statements like he can not win even a councillor’s post was totally uncalled for, he said while referring to a recent statement made by a BJD leader against him.
Pradhan did not stop here from praising Mahtab. He stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi also likes him. Recently, Mahtab had raised eyebrows after he wrote an editorial wherein he pointed at police action against BJP youth activists during a rally in Bhubaneswar.
Mahtab also maintained at the meeting that Pradhan was not fully forthcoming about the reign of terror prevailing in Odisha to protect him from any kind of trouble.
The developments had its echo here with leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra stating that the prime minister wanted the veteran BJD MP to the be the deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha. Describing Bhartruhari as a talented person, Mishra said his performance in the Lok Sabha is praiseworthy.