Odisha BJP leaders scuffle during state unit president’s Bolangir rally

Two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders entered into a scuffle during state unit president Manmohan Samal’s visit to Bolangir on Monday. As per reports, Samal and Bolangir MP Sangeeta Singh Deo were going in a rally from Bijakhaman area.

When the rally was passing through the RTO chhak, BJP leader Anant Das and one Balram Singh Yadav, who claims to be party leader, tried to welcome the party president by presenting a flower bouquet. However, it was opposed by BJP leader Gopalji Panigrahi.

This led to a scuffle and later the supporters of Gopalji allegedly thrashed Anant Das and tore his shirt.

When contacted, state BJP president Manmohan Samal said, “No such incident happened. There are no non-Odia leader in Bolangir and in our party.”

“I was along with the party president and we have no information about such incident or scuffle,” said BJP's Bolangir district president, Sibaji Mohanty.