Cuttack: Protesting the rise in the number violence in Odisha in the ongoing three-tier Panchayat polls, the BJP today gheraoed the office of the Director General of Police (DGP) here.
Reports said hundreds of activists of Cuttack Nagar BJP and BJP Yuva Morcha led by their leader and former minister Samir De went on a protest rally in the city and gheraoed the DGP office where they had a scuffle with the police.
Talking to media persons, BJP leader Samir De said the district collectors, SPs and other officers have unleashed a reign of terror in Odisha by attacking and killing BJP workers and leaders as per the directive of the “Third Floor”(office of chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat).
“The authoritarian rule of the state administration and police has reached the climax in the ongoing Panchayat polls in Odisha. Zealous of the victory of the BJP, the BJD workers and leaders are attacking our party workers leaders, setting fire in their houses and looting their properties. When complaint against the ruling party is lodged in the police stations, police, instead of arresting the real culprits, are arresting the BJP workers,” De added.
The BJP leader said he along with his party men had come to the DGP office and told him that the police should discharge its duty impartially without being influenced by the ruling BJD failing which BJP will take strong action after coming to power in 2019.
He further claimed that some senior bureaucrats in the Third Floor are perpetrating violence in the state. He also said the ADG (Law and Order) Binayanand Jha, is acting as a BJP worker. “We wanted to meet him. But he did not come out of his room as he has no guts to face us,” he pointed out.
Reacting to the statement of the BJP leader, BJD MP Siddhant Mohapatra said violence in politics should be discouraged. He, however, said one party should not accuse the other party of perpetrating violence. “After all, there is no smoke without fire. Each party should respect people’s mandate. The allegation of the BJP that the BJD is inciting violence will be known only after investigation,” he noted.