Reacting to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s jibe at the opposition parties over farmers’ issues, Congress leader and former MP Pradeep Majhi said, “It was not a farmers’ convention (at Sohela) but a party meeting. It was a congregation of BJD leaders from 10 western Odisha districts.”
Similarly, BJP leader Pratap Sarangi said, “It was BJD Samavesh, not Chasi Samavesh.
Ahead of the BJD’s Chasi Samavesh, former Congress legislators Sadhu Nepak and Nihar Mahananda were detained. Farmers’ leader lingaraj was detained at the Bargarh police station. Besides, BJP leader Jaynarayan Mishra and over 100 party leaders were taken into preventive custody.