on Friday made an indirect attack on chief minister March 18 . Pradhan said BJD Rajya Sabha member Pratap Keshari Deb, at the behest of Naveen, spilled the beans on June 26 and told the media that the First Lady had written to made an indirect attack on chief minister Naveen Patnaik for allegedly masterminding the fake controversy, involving alleged misconduct by some servitors of Puri Jagannath temple to president Ram Nath Kovind and his wife Savita in the shrine on. Pradhan said BJD Rajya Sabha member Pratap Keshari Deb, at the behest of Naveen, spilled the beans on June 26 and told the media that the First Lady had written to Puri district collector Aravind Agarwal about misconduct by servitors. March 18 . To the best of my knowledge, nobody misbehaved with the president and the First Lady. No letter or complaint was sent by the . To the best of my knowledge, nobody misbehaved with the president and the First Lady. No letter or complaint was sent by the Rashtrapati Bhavan to Odisha government. Pratap Deb told the media about the alleged misconduct. He must not have made such remarks without the instruction of Naveen babu. Now, it is clear who created the controversy,” Pradhan told media persons here. On Thursday , Suar Mahasuar Nijog, another association of servitors, had lodged complaint against Agarwal and Jena at Singhadwar police station in Puri. Jena and Agarwal were unavailable for comment. BHUBANESWAR:BHUBANESWAR: Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan here“I had accompanied the president to the temple onThe union minister said it is unfortunate to drag Rashtrapati Bhavan into controversy. “We saw contradictory statements from Naveen’s dispensation. His party colleague Pratap Deb told media about the alleged misconduct to president. Later, Naveen’s chief secretary Aditya Padhi scotched such allegation and denied that the state government received any letter from Rashtrapati Bhavan. We demand an answer from Naveen as to who is correct—whether Deb or Padhi,” Pradhan said.Contacted, Deb denied the charges and said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) played political game to defame Biju Janata Dal. “I suspect the BJP orchestrated the controversy. Neither I nor the BJD hatched the row,” Deb told TOI.On the other hand, servitors of Jagannath temple have decided to write a letter to the president and his wife Savita, seeking action against Puri collector Agarwal and shrine’s former chief administrator P K Jena for making false allegations that the country’s VVIP couple was misbehaved by some priests during their visit to the shrine.The priests’ move came two days after the Rashtrapati Bhavan denied to have complained to Odisha government about alleged harassment of Kovind and Savita in Puri temple. “We have sought cooperation of all the associations of servitors of Jagannath temple. We will appeal to the president to take action against those, responsible for defaming us in a false controversy,” said assistant secretary of Daitapati Nijog (a body of servitors), Binayak Dasmohapatra.

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