By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Call it ‘Pandian Overdrive’ irked Opposition Parties in Odisha. The De Facto Boss of the Odisha Government after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Tamil Nadu born Odisha cadre IAS officer V Kartikeyan Pandian has received severe jolt with BJP and Congress raising questions on absence of Ministers and overdrive of a young IAS officer.
Senior Congress MLA from Jatni Assembly seat, Suresh Routray said: “Where are Ministers? The officers are going overdrive. Are officers above Ministers?”
BJP MLA from Sundergarh Kusum Tete in a letter to the Chief Minister said the CDMO Pankaj Patel was working hard to serve the people and his suspension based on “misunderstanding”. Congress asked why officers go on reviewing the programme instead of the Ministers.
In an apparent attempt to defend Pandian, Secretary to Chief Minister and 5T , Naveen said: “As part of our strategy, I had sent senior officers across the State with a directive to cover at least 15 districts. The feedback on peoples’ participation has been very inspiring and the response by both police and health functionaries in the field has been very encouraging.”
