Misconduct of newly-elected leaders kicks off political storm in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Be it celebrities or politicians, their conduct in public matters the most. However, the transgression of some of the elected representatives has now sparked off a major political storm in Odisha.

Be it BJD MP Anubhav Mohanty or Patnagarh MLA Saroj Meher or BJP MLA Kusum Tete - all such politicians have landed in soup over their misconduct in public.

While Patnagarh MLA Saroj Meher is accused of forcing a Junior Engineer of doing sit-ups in public over shoddy road construction work, party’s Kendrapara MP Anubhav Mohanty has drawn flak for allegedly misbehaving with a woman journalist.

Though two weeks have passed, action is yet to be taken against Meher. This has irked the Bolangir district Tribal Welfare Association, which has now threatened to gherao Odisha Assembly on June 26.

“We will stage demonstration if the no action is taken against the MLA by tonight,” said Brajkishore Singhbhoi, president of Bolangir district Tribal Welfare Association.

Bolangir SP K Subramani said, “Police action has already started and appropriate action will be taken after a detailed probe.”

On the other hand, Purighat Police registered a case against Kendrapara MP Anubhav Mohanty for allegedly abusing and spitting at a woman scribe. The complainant, Sasmita Acharya today staged a dharna in front of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik’s residence and was later picked up by police.
Based on the complaint filed by Sasmita, Purighat Police has registered a case against Anubhav and his brother Anuprash Mohanty. Earlier, the MP had refuted the allegations leveled against him.

“I had gone to MP Anubhav Mohanty’s residence when he had misbehaved and abused me,” said Sasmita.

Similarly, BJP MLA Kusum Tete is also in news for allegedly threatening a government official to do sit-ups.

“I have been working tirelessly for the last 5 years for the development of the region. However, I will force officials to do sit-ups, if no work is done by them,” said Tete.