Bhubaneswar, Nov 2 (PTI) A "missing" poster of BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik in his Hinjili assembly segment of flood-hit Ganjam district in Odisha has sparked a row, with the ruling BJP saying that people of the region were looking for their MLA in their time of distress.
The BJD hit back, accusing the BJP of having a "narrow mindset" and politicising the disaster after falling out of favour with the public.
A poster with the picture of the 80-year-old six-time MLA from Hinjili was found pasted on a pillar of a bus stand there, with the word "missing" written at the top. "Please help us find him" was also written on the poster.
Police said they were yet to identify the people who printed and pasted the poster.
Odisha BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal took a swipe at Patnaik, the leader of the opposition in the Assembly, claiming that the people of Hinjili might have put up the poster after not finding their MLA during the disaster.
Patnaik has not visited his constituency even in the time of distress, he said.
"If the people of Hinjili searched for their MLA during difficult times and put up a missing poster after not finding him, where is the mistake in that?" Biswal posed.
The BJP leader said that during Patnaik's tenure as chief minister, he used to visit flood-affected areas by helicopter. As the leader of the opposition, he can fly at least to his own constituency, he said.
The BJD hit back, with its youth wing president Chinmay Sahu accusing BJP leaders of politicising a disaster, thereby exposing their "narrow mindset".
"Though Patnaik has not visited Hinjili, he has sent a delegation of senior BJD leaders to interact with the people of Ganjam, including Hinjili. BJD leaders reached Hinjili even before the government or any of its ministers reached there," Sahu said.
BJD senior vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra said, "Patnaik was the first to call the Ganjam district collector to enquire about the well-being of the people in Hinjili and the entire district. There should be no question about the sincerity of a statesman like Naveen Patnaik."
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)