An unsavoury scene was witnessed at the Gopalpur Beach Festival on its fourth evening on Tuesday as invited guests, who were of opposition parties, were not welcomed by the host and they had to leave being offended in the public.
The meeting started right at 7 am. The invited guests like former Union Minister Chandra Sekhar Sahu, former Chhatrapur MlA N Narayan Reddy, PCC member Bikram Panda, Congress Ganjam district president Bhagawan Gantayat and some leaders belonging to the BJP and the CPI were already sitting in the visitors’ gallery near the dais. However, AIDPRO Pramila Majhi, who was welcoming guests, requested district Collector Prem Chandra Choudhury, Brahmapur Sub-Collector, ADM and a Tata Steel official to adorn the dais and didn’t call the invited political leaders.
But when they started the meeting by lighting lamps, some visitors opposed the disrespect meted out to the leaders. Then, the Collector came near to the guests to show a friendly gesture. But an angry Sahu immediately wanted to know from him why they were invited and disrespected. To this, the Collector said they were not invited at all and both of them indulged in a verbal duel for some time. Thereafter, the guests left the meeting venue.
“The Mahotsav Committee had invited us only to disrespect us. The Collector’s behaviour is also unfair. The Congress will certainly oppose it,” Sahu told reporters. later, cultural programmes were held as scheduled.