Bhubaneswar: The lure of power has led the BJD to resort to violent methods to win elections in the state, said BJP president Samir Mohanty on Saturday.
Mohanty visited the family members of a BJP corporator candidate for the upcoming ULB elections, who are undergoing treatment in Apollo Hospital in the city after they were critically injured in an alleged attack by BJD supporters on Friday night.
He enquired about their condition and assured them of all possible help from the party. Mohanty also discussed the treatment with the doctors and hospital authroties.
Speaking to media persons after the visit, Mohanty said the law and order has totally collapsed in the state and the government is directly responsible for this. “The BJD wants to grab the power by eliminating the opposition in the ULB elections. It has resorted to violence to create a fear psychosis among the opposition candidates,” he said.
The BJD, which claims that there is no place of violence in democracy, has turned its perpetrator, he said adding that the cases of Bhubaneswar and Banpur on the day stand witness to it.
It may be noted that five family members of the BJP corporator candidate were brutally attacked allegedly by BJD supporters in front of Laxmi Sagar police station where the former had gone to file a complaint on Friday night. The condition of three of them was stated to be critical.
On Saturday morning, BJD MLA from Chilika, Prashant Jagdev drove his vehicle into a crowd, which was waiting outside the Banapur block development office when an indirect election for the post of block chairman was underway.
Total 22 persons, including seven police personnel, were injured in the incident. Following the incident, irate crowd beat up the MLA who has been admitted to a hospital
