Athagarh: Police detained five Congress workers for showing black flag to local BJD MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain and Urban Development minister Pushpendra Singhdeo today.
According to reports, Swain and the minister were on the way to attend the centenary celebration of a school at Karikol when some Youth Congress workers had a scuffle with the BJD workers near Athagarh Town Police Station and showed black flags to both the leaders.
Following the incident, police rushed to the spot and whisked away the agitating Youth Congress workers and detained five of them.
Asked about the incident, Athagarh MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain said he stays in his home constituency 25 days in a month. “I am not bothered about anyone who shows me black flag, broom. To my knowledge, I have not seen anyone showing black flag to me today,” he said.
Without naming Congress workers, Swain said may be the opposition members may have shown black flag to him after the rally. Since they belong to the opposition, they might have done this for publicity.
He said the support for the BJD in Athagarh has gone up further which was evident as thousands of people joined the event today.
The Urban Development minister said “Neither I have heard nor seen anyone showing black flag to me. If someone has done this behind me, it will be not proper to comment on this”.