Ahead of the scheduled Swabhiman Samavesh on June 12 in New Delhi to demand Special Category State (SCS) status for Odisha, the ruling BJD on Friday organised a human chain here near the Forest Park seeking public support.
Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya and two city MlAs Bijay Mohanty and Ashok Panda along with hundreds of party workers and supporters joined the human chain and slammed the Central Government for its repeated ‘step-motherly’ attitude towards the State.
“We are organising human chains across the State today. People from different walks of life have participated in the movement spontaneously which clearly indicates that the SCS demand is genuine,” said Acharya. Meanwhile, the one-crore signature campaign, which had begun last month, was concluded on Friday.
“The signature drive ended today. The signatures will be handed over to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on June 9 at a meeting in Bhubaneswar. The memorandum with the signatures will be presented to the President of India on June 12,” said Acharya. “Our agitation for SCS status has become a mass movement, and we will never tolerate the continuous step-motherly attitude of the Union Government any more,” warned Bhubaneswar Central MlA Mohanty.