Black ink was thrown at V.K. Pandian, the private secretary of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, in Puri district during his visit to the area on Saturday.
Police have detained accused Bhaskar Sahu, a panchayat-level political activist who is being disowned by both the BJD and BJP camps.
A 2000-cadre IAS officer, Pandian had gone to Sakhigopal with Puri district collector Samarth Verma for a meeting at a college ground at Sakhigopal under the Satyabadi Assembly constituency. As Pandian approached the podium, Bhaskar threw ink at him. The faces of Pandian and Verma were blackened.
Security personnel whisked away Bhaskar even as a mob demanded he be handed over to them.
Pandian went ahead with the meeting.
Pandian’s district visits have not gone down well with many. Even Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, a BJD MLA and editor of the Sambad newspaper, in Friday article questioned Pandian’s visits across the state, sidelining political leaders.
Sources said Pandian’s visits were aimed at getting a feel of ground realities before the chief minister takes a call on distributing party tickets before the 2024 polls.
