The three-day-long Kujang Mahotsav which grew controversial last week following a protest by a section of people, including Jagatsinghpur CPI MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai, finally began at Kujang hat near block office on Sunday.
The Mahotsav was inaugurated by Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs Minister Pratap Keshori Deb. Health Minister and local MlA Damodar Rout presided over the function.
On the flip side, the Mahotsav opponents under the banner of Kujang loka Mahotsav Committee, who had been denied permission to host celebration at Kujang, staged a protest demanding a halt to the programme.
They stated that the celebration was ignoring people and had become a platform of Rout and his loyalists. later, the police intervened in the matter, picked up a few protestors and subsequently set them free. Sources said the Mahotsav has become a political battle between Rout and Tarai over past one month, who are trying to establish political supremacy through the fest.
This has led to a division among the fans, hosting the celebration. Finally, Rout’s supporters had granted permission hosting the celebration that irked MP Tarai’s group who staged an agitation in front of the Kujang tehsil office for last three days. The civil administration had ignored the protestors’ claim.