BJD leader ‘thrashes’ youth, ‘abuses’ public in Odisha’s Rayagada

A youth BJD leader allegedly hurled abuses at public and thrashed a youth mercilessly after chasing him at Raghubari village under Muniguda block in Rayagada district on Sunday. The video of the incident has reportedly gone viral on various social media platforms.

As per reports, Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe Development Minister and Bisamkatak Assembly candidate Jagannath Saraka had visited to Raghubari village for poll campaigning. However, the villagers requested the Minister to take necessary steps to solve the drinking water problem in their village. When they gheroed the Minister over the issue, youth BJD leader Dhirendra Panigrahi lost his cool, started muttering abuses at the villagers. He even went to the extent of thrashing a youth. 

However, the ruling party leader dismissed the allegation against him. 

“While we were discussing with some women about the drinking water crisis in the village, some miscreants were shooting the incidents with their mobile phones. They were shooting the incident with an ulterior motive of making the videos viral to show that the BJD leaders were not allowed to enter the village. We told them to discuss the matter peacefully. Then we took away their mobile phones and barred them from shooting,” said Panigrahi.

However, no reaction from the administration could be obtained in this regard.