Former State Congress president Niranjan Patnaik on Wednesday alleged that ruling BJD workers have resorted to hooliganism across the State apprehending electoral debacle after the first-phase polls held on April 10.
Reacting to the allegations that some BJD leaders and workers attacked kin of Congress candidate for the Jeypore Assembly seat Tara Prasad Bahinipati, Patnaik said,
“BJD workers have resorted to violence across the State. The Chief Minister, who also holds the charge of Home Department, has remained callous towards incidents of hooliganism repeating his one-liner that “law will take its own course’. As a result, the hooligans are being encouraged indirectly.”Apprehending that a fair poll would also be disrupted in the second phase in the State if the hooliganism persists, Patnaik was confident that the people would teach a lesson to the BJD this time.