Bhubaneswar: Continuing his tirade against BJD leader and minister Sanjay Dasburma, senior Congress leader Lalatendu Bidyadhar (Lulu) Mahapatra on Monday challenged him to file a defamation case against him.
Mahapatra's reaction came following Dasburma's statement to the media yesterday in which he had claimed that the former had lost his mental balance.
“I was not in Bhubaneswar yesterday. But I have heard the statement of a BJD minister that I have lost my mental balance and he will teach me a lesson. A person without any social standing loses mental balance. Those having mental balance give honest statements and are open to any challenge. The people of Odisha know very well who has lost the mental balance,” Lulu told media persons here.
Reminding Dasburma of his locus standi, Lulu said the man who was selling the books of Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani on a Luna moped has now become the owner of thousand of crores. “In fact, he has lost his mental balance due to his desperate bid to tap the sources from where he could collect the money,” he added.
Claiming that Dasburma, who had no knowledge of politics, used to serve tea in the houses of Pyari Mohan Mahapatra and Bijay Mahapatra, the Congress leader said the former should have a relook at his past before comparing him with others.
“With whom he is trying to compare himself? I have heard that he will teach me a lesson. I am prepared for it. What lesson he will teach a person who has learnt to fight since his student days and hails from a political family?” he asked.
To a question on filing of a defamation suit by Dasburma against him, Lulu said welcomed his decision. “Filing defamation case against me would turn out to be a Pandora ’s Box for him,” he pointed out.
Mohapatra also informed that the government is trying to arrest him on the charge of presenting misleading information to the media.
“Yesterday, there was a meeting in the house of a top bureaucrat near the airport in the presence of a top police officer. As per the information I have with me, around 3000 people from Puri and Ganjam district will take out a motorcycle rally from the Alarnath temple in Brahmagiri tomorrow. They will burn about 30 effigies of mine in front of Congress Bhawan. They will also file an FIR against me for presenting misleading information to the media. I sincerely want to take rest for at least two weeks as I am physically tired after moving throughout Odisha for the last three months despite my poor health condition. Let them arrest me and see the consequences in the state and how the Congress will be united,” he asserted.
Referring to the incident relating to former chief minister Biju Patnaik, Lulu said “Biju Babu had once committed a mistake. Once I was on a flight from Bhubaneswar to New Delhi. Biju Babu was sitting on the back row of my seat. I requested him to come and sit beside me. At this, he embraced me and told me that I was a fighter. You cannot compare Biju Babu with these BJD leaders. This is a party which comprises tea sellers, blacklisted builders and dacoits whose prime motive is to loot Odisha”.
Asked about his reaction, Dasburma refused to give any comment.