Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today sought clarification from Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the alleged disrespect to Savita Kovind, wife of President Ram Nath Kovind, during their visit to the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri on March 18.
Stating that as there is no written complaint to this effect to the temple administration or the Odisha government from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Pradhan asked "who made this issue controversial and with what intention? Let the chief minister give a clarification on whether the statement of the BJD spokesperson PK Deb or the chief secretary is true."
The Union minister, who accompanied the President and the first lady to the temple on that day, however, said: "As far as I know, no such incident occurred during the visit of the President and his wife to Jagannath Temple."
While reacting over the reported letter from the Rashtrapati Bhavan on alleged misconduct towards the president and his wife, chief secretary A P Padhi on June 27 said that the state government has not received any communication of any sort on this subject.
The senior BJP leader, however, wanted to know who informed the Biju Janata Dal spokesman about the alleged complaint letter from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
"Was he (Deb) briefed by the chief secretary or the chief minister?" Pradhan asked.
Deb said he had given a statement on this issue on the basis of the information by the media.
SJTA chief administrator PK Mohapatra had also claimed that the temple administration has not received any letter from Rashtrapati Bhavan regarding the incident.
A section of the media had reported that the Rashtrapati Bhavan wrote to the temple administration, alleging inappropriate behaviour by servitors outside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
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