State Planning Board Deputy Chairman and Jagatsinghpur district BJD president Bishnu Das on Wednesday strongly condemned a “BJP supporter’s” act of hurling shoes at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bijepur.
“The activities of BJP workers over the years have precipitated to an all-time low as they dabble in violence and mayhem to capture power by hook or by cook as evident in Ganjam, Gajpati, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khordha,” Das told a news conference here. Even, the residence of the Chief Minister's Private Secretary was not spared from the BJP’s targets, he said.
The shoes thrower Kartik Meher has confessed before police that Padmapur MlA Pradeep Porohit, Bijepur BJP candidate Ashok Panigrahi and another person had instigated him to commit the crime, Das said, and wondered whether the anonymous third person is none other than Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The availability of a BJP flag from Meher’s pocket confirms that he unmistakable is a BJP supporter, Das said, and demanded that police take strong action in the case.
He pointed out that the gruesome murder of a Councillor in Ganjam brought to the fore the involvement of BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra; and the murderous attempt on Polasara Block Officer and other officials by BJP workers have proved that the BJP has stooped to a low by resorting to violence. The pelting of eggs by a woman at the Chief Minister at a meeting in Baleswar district was yet another BJP-instigated act, he said.
If the BJP continues in its spree of violence, the BJD rank and filed including youths, students, women and Dalits shall not remain silent spectators and shall retaliate, Das cautioned. He hoped that Bijepur’s conscious voters would give a fitting reply to the BJP.
State Planning Board Member and former Assembly Deputy Speaker Rama Chandra Panda also strongly condemned the shoe attack allegedly by a BJP supporter on the Chief Minister.
“Pelting of shoes, stones, eggs or cow dung on any elected representative or Constitutional head is not only an act of cowardice but also a dangerous trend in our Parliamentary democracy which needs to be condemned across party lines. The show attack on the CM is an indicator of sheer frustration of the power-hungry BJP,” said Panda.