Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy on Sunday washed his off the statements he made in the Assembly on deceased farmer Khainu Bagarti of Bargarh that he committed suicide due to a tiff with his wife. Maharathy came under sharp criticism after the reason cited by him was rubbished by Bagarti’s widow Kala Bagarti.
And to save his face, the Agriculture Minister Anjan Kumar Manik blamed the report of Bargarh Collector which had mentioned that the reason behind the death of the farmer was due to a quarrel with his wife.After coming under attacks from several quarters, Maharathy clarified on Sundaythat he had informed the Assembly that Bagarti had committed suicide due to quarrel with his wife and not due to agriculture-related issues as alleged by the Opposition basing on the report of the Bargarh Collector.
Hours after Maharathy passed the blame on the Collector, the latter too followed the Minister’s way and blamed his subordinates for filing the report that way.
“It is not necessary for the Collector to personally visit the spot for inquiry but he presents a report on basis of findings of the field officials,” clarified Manik.”In this case the report was given on basis of a joint inquiry done by the local Tehsildar and the Assistant Agriculture Officer,” he added.
Kala had rejected the statements made by the Minister as false saying not a single Government official had ever visited her and her family after the death of her husband. Kala told reporters, “No one had visited our home. They are telling lies; we never quarreled.”
Earlier on the day, BJP national secretary Suresh Pujari had also slammed Maharathy’s statements. If quarrel between a wife and a husband leads to suicide by the latter, then going by the theory advocated by the Minister, all husbands would be dead by now since quarrels between spouses are a common affair, argued Pujari.