Niranjan condemns attack on Cong leader at Odisha minister’s behest

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 30:

Senior Congress leader and former Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik today strongly condemned the murderous assault  on Congress Zilla Parishad member from Jajpur district Bharat Chandra Parida by BJD workers.

Patnaik said the Zilla Parishad member was brutally assaulted by BJD workers and goondas when he complained of irregularities in distribution of relief meant for flood affected people in Dasarathpur block of Jajpur district before Energy minister Pranab Prakash Das.

Stating that Parida was as much a people’s representative as the minister himself , the senior Congress leader said he had every right to apprise a minister of the problems and difficulties faced by the people he represented.

“Such an attack in the presence of  the minister suggests the latter was party to the violence”, Patnaik said in his statement .

The former Pradesh Congress chief alleged that the police have chosen not to arrest the attackers under pressure from the minister. Instead,  they are harassing Congress workers based on false complaints from BJD workers.

The senior Congress leader demanded the immediate arrest of the attackers as well as a probe into the complicity of the minister in the matter.