The BJD has come down heavily on the Mohan Charan Majhi government for renaming the prestigious “Biju Patnaik Sports Award” coined after former chief minister and father of BJD chief Naveen Patnaik to “Odisha Rajya Krida Samman”.

Soon after coming to power, the Majhi government started renaming various schemes launched by the previous Naveen regime and rebranding them. A notification on the guidelines for the award was issued on Friday.

Lashing out at the Majhi government, BJD MLA and former minister Arun Sahoo said: “Biju babu was a national asset honoured by three different countries. He participated in the country’s freedom struggle. What does the state government want to prove by removing his name from sports awards?”

The Naveen government instituted the award in 2001-2002 in the honour of Biju Patnaik to felicitate eminent sports personalities of the state and excellence in sports journalism, including para sportsperson of the year. The award is given to sports personalities and people for their contribution to the cause of promoting sports. The cash prize varies from ₹1 lakh to ₹3 lakh. The award is given on the National Sports Day on August 29.

Sahoo said: “Biju Patnaik was not an individual but an institution. Everyone admires him for his bravery and his contribution to nation-building. He commands the respect of leaders across party lines. Removing his name from the award will hurt the sentiments of people across the globe. Government should refrain from it.”

Earlier, the Majhi government had renamed the Laccmi (Location Accessible Multimodal initiative) bus service to Mukhyamantri bus service.