Paralakhemundi: Two days after the Maharaja of Parlakhemundi Gopinath Gajapati Narayan Deb was shifted to Chennai for treatment, local MLA K Surya Rao (Congress) and district BJP president G Ravana today staged a hunger strike in front of the palace here demanding arrest of the king’s manager Kanakmanjari Patra, who they alleged had kept the successor of Gajapati dynasty under house arrest.
They also demanded the arrest of her two brothers and transfer of the Collector.
"Our demands include proper treatment to the king, arrest of palace manager along with her two brothers and thorough inquiry into the palace's monetary transaction, formation of new managing committee of Jagannath temple set by the king's family and shifting of Paralakhemundi Collector through whom king's family has been insulted," MLA Surya Rao said.
The king was taken to Vizag on Sunday night and later shifted to Chennai for treatment as per the advice of a team of doctors from the district headquarters hospital, which had visited the palace and examined the Maharaja on Sunday.
Following reports that king Gopinath Gajapati, a former MP, was kept under house arrest and was not allowed to meet anyone, including his relatives, allegedly by the manager of the palace, hundreds of local residents in the town, including leaders of various parties, had rushed to the heritage building on Sunday and taken stock of the health condition of the former parliamentarian.
The younger brother of the king Sarbagyana Jagannath Gajapati Deb, who stays in Bangalore, had alleged that manager of the king Pratisthana Ananga Manjari Patra had put the Maharaja under house arrest.
However, manager Patra had refuted the allegation saying, “It is a rumour. The Maharaja is fit and fine. The daughter of the king and the Puri Gajapati had asked the Maharaja to take rest for one year and not go outside the palace,” she had said.
Notably, talks did the rounds that taking advantage of the deteriorating health condition of the king, the manager and her associates were trying to usurp royal properties.