BJD ‘goons’ came to kill me: BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra

Bhubaneswar: At a time when the incident of BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra allegedly manhandling a woman police official has snowballed into a political slugfest in Odisha, the veteran leader today claimed that some ‘goons’ of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had come to the Sambalpur Circuit House with an intention to kill him.

“As I have been raising the issue of minister Naba Das’ murder, the State Government and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have become furious and they are trying to attack me. I was staying in the circuit house for few days due to leg fracture. On knowing about my stay, some ‘goons’ of the BJD today came to the circuit house with an intention of killing me. All of them are criminals. They also vandalised the place,” said Mishra.

Many BJD workers today staged demonstration in front of the circuit house over the manhandling incident. However, Mishra was not present in the circuit house during the protest.

On the other hand, hundreds of members of Biju Mahila Janata Dal staged a protest at the Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar. Holding placards, they demanded action against Mishra.

Tension ran high at the Sambalpur Collectorate yesterday as Mishra allegedly manhandled Dhanupali police station IIC Anitarani Pradhan while the party was staging a protest over deteriorated law and order situation.

As the saffron party leaders and workers were heading towards the office of the collector, police stopped them. The activists then scuffled with the cops. In the meantime, Mishra, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, was seen shouting at the woman IIC and threatening to slap her.

The legislator also manhandled the IIC, which led to an untoward situation at the spot.

Multiple videos of the incident have come to fore. However, Mishra refuted the allegations saying that the IIC manhandled him.

“I was pushed and manhandled by the IIC. I was initially sitting on a chair. When I came to know that our women activists were being mistreated by police, I stood up. The IIC pushed me saying that I was speaking too much against the police department. I didn’t push the cop,” said Mishra.

Mishra and Pradhan have lodged police complaint against each other.