Former IPS and BJD leader Arup Patnaik issues open threat to LoP Jayanarayan Mishra

At a time when the ongoing controversy surrounding the scuffle between BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jayanarayan Mishra and a lady police officer is yet to die down, the statements of former IPS officer and senior BJD leader Arup Patnaik has further intensified the war of words between the ruling party and the BJP.

While addressing a gathering during BJD’s demonstration in Bhubaneswar on Thursday, the former IPS officer without taking the name of the Leader of Opposition, (LoP) Jayanarayan Mishra, issued threats.

“The person, who was seen pushing, is yet to come face-to-face in a similar situation against us. He can best judge what will be the consequences if that happens,” said Patnaik in his statement.

Patnaik went on to add, “I am no longer in uniform now & hope the person confronts me.”

Senior journalist, Akshay Sahu said, “Such statements from a retired police officer are not acceptable. Despite being a law enforcement officer, his statements suggest taking law into own hands.”

Responding to Arup Patnaik’s statements, senior BJP leader Golak Mohapatra said, “After CM Naveen Patnaik, the post of LoP is highly respectable. But such statements coming from a senior IPS officer are highly condemnable and suggest that it has come from a goonda instead of an ex-cop.”

Mohapatra further said the way Naba Das was killed and no protests were staged either in Jharsuguda or any other place in the state, we suspect that everything was done in a pre-planned manner.

“Odisha Police is now acting as the goon for the ruling BJD. Under such circumstances, it is clear that there is threat to the life of the LoP the manner in which the entire controversy was created yesterday and now the statements of the senior BJD leader have validated this,” Mohapatra said adding that the LoP is a people’s leader and we dare the BJD leaders to confront him.

(Reported by Niranjan Reddy)