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Bhubaneswar: Expressing serious concerns over BJD MLA Byomakesh Ray’s 'threat to a police officer over phone', the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday demanded a fair inquiry into the incident and appropriate action against the legislator.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Odisha Assembly, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik demanded a ruling from the Speaker directing MLAs to show cordial behaviour to the government servants.
"Is it appropriate on the part of an elected representative to threaten an Assistant Sub-inspector to transfer him to 'Motu'? If he (ASI) does something wrong in delivery of service, the matter could have been raised before an appropriate forum or 5T panel and action could have been taken against the officer accordingly," said Naik.
Bhadrak district unit of BJP has demanded exemplary action against the MLA failing which the party would resort to a mass agitation. "If Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik doesn't take any immediate action against MLA Byomakesh Ray, we will resort to a massive agitation in the district," said Hemant Padhi, BJP's Bhadrak district president.
The ruling BJD, on the other hand, downplayed the issue saying it as 'small affair'.
Government chief whip and senior BJD MLA Pramila Mallik said, "It is a small issue which should not be raised in the House. If an MLA speaks to an officer over phone on some issues, the Leader of Opposition should not raise the matter in the Assembly."
Meanwhile, MLA Byomakesh Ray claimed that his conversation has been misled. "If Speaker allows me, I would present the audio clip containing the entire conversation. I don't need advice from anyone regarding the code of etiquette," Ray said.
The police officer was involved in extortion from the poor people in the region, Ray alleged.
https://youtu.be/s-rJ3btM-68
It is alleged that the Chandbali MLA threatened assistant sub-inspector of Bansada Police Station, Gurucharan Behera to transfer him to 'Motu'- a Maoist-hit bordering area. The audio clip of their purported conversation is doing rounds on various social media platforms.
