Bhubaneswar, June 8: In a shocking situation, raising his voice at a news conference during the party’s district level executive meet in Puri, senior BJD leader and the newly elected Agriculture minster Damodar Rout yesterday challenged the Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on taking him on in the upcoming general elections.
Talking to the media, Rout challenged Pradhan to compete with him in the upcoming elections and stated that Pradhan had lost the last election by 25,000 votes, after which he flew to Bihar from where he was elected to Rajya Sabha as he has a good command over hindi. He further went on to challenge that, he will file his nominations from where Pradhan files.
The senior BJD leader dared the union minister to win a ward member election at least before thinking of becoming a CM.
On the other hand, BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra commenting on Rout’s statement said, “Dharmendra is the first Odia leader to fight for our rights at Delhi and Damodar Rout should not forget the 1995 elections, when he contested from two places.
