Pyari questions Naveen's sudden love for artistes

Rajya Sabha member and Odisha Janamorcha (OJM) president Pyarimohan Mohapatra today criticised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for endorsing the name of sculptor Padmabhushan Raghunath Mohapatra as the fourth candidate of BJD for the ensuing Rajya Sabha elections.
"If the Chief Minister was so keen to send the sculptor to the Rajya Sabha, he should have endorsed the artiste's name for any of the top three seats of the party," Pyarimohan said.
He said that the BJD had enough strength in the state Assembly to send any three persons to the Upper House without the help of other parties.
Terming the move as drama, Pyarimohan wondered from when Patnaik had developed adulation for artistes of the state.

"Why this artistic sensibility developed after 14 long years?" Pyarimohan asked newsmen here after releasing his party manifesto for next month's civic body elections.
Pyarimohan said after carefully evaluating the party's strength in Cuttack city, OJM decided to field candidates in only 22 wards and hoped that people of Cuttack would give an opportunity to the newly formed party to serve them.
OJM is testing political waters for the first time in the state at Cuttack after it was formed last year and allotted the party symbol of kite by the Election Commission late last month.
OJM was not allowed to contest the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation elections on a party symbol held on January 8.