After Puri, eggs hurled at minister’s vehicle in Chhatrapur

Bhubaneswar: It seems hurling eggs has become the most convenient way to vent ire, if incidents over the last few days are any indication. After Sunday’s Puri incident, in which eggs were hurled at the vehicle of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Sanajy Dasburma, the Bramhagiri legislator faced a similar embarrassment in Chhatrapur on Monday.

Eyewitnesses said about 10-15 activists reportedly from Congress party, lobbed eggs and tomatoes at the minister’s vehicle while the minister was returning to Bhubaneswar after completing his Chhatrapur tour. Though the vehicle managed to escape some throws, a few hit the window panes of the vehicle.

No damage has been caused to the vehicle, they added.

After failing to stop Dasburma’s vehicle, the party workers staged a sit-in on the road, sources said.

Commenting on the development, Dasburma said, “This is the handiwork of a former legislator of the district, who is well known as a mining mafia. He has instigated his ollowers to indulge in such shameful activities. But I am requesting the youth mass to stay away from these things and concentrate on their future instead.”

Though the exact cause behind today’s incident is not known, it is believed that the youth activists of the party were protesting the irregularities in the NFSA beneficiary list.

Yesterday, a similar incident witnessed the arrest of five activists of Congress party.

Though they were released on bail, the police have registered cases under Sections 143, 341, 294, 286, 149 and 506 of IPC against Swadheen Panda, Amarendra Paikray, Biswaranjan Samantaroy, Aditya Narayan Pani and Ashis Das on charges of attacking Dasburma’s vehicle.

In November last, some students had hurled eggs at the vehicles of School and Mass Education Minister Devi Prasad Mishra who was on his way to attend a two-day international seminar ‘Kalinga-Lanka’ at Utkal University organised by Kalinga Lanka Foundation. The students reportedly pelted eggs in protest against the infrastructural deficiencies in the varsity campus.

In February, activists of Youth Congress threw eggs and waved black flags at chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s cavalcade while he was on his way to Vani Vihar to attend the annual function of Utkal University. The activists, numbering over a hundred, held up the chief minister’s carcade for about 10 minutes near Keshari Talkies in the heart of the city.