Abhijit Iyer Mitra Tenders Apology To Odisha Speaker

Bhubaneswar: Journalist Abhijit Iyer Mitra, whose derogatory remarks on Odisha, Sun Temple at Konark and Lord Jagannath had triggered a statewide uproar, on Thursday tendered his apology to the State Assembly Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat.

According to reports, Abhijit sent the letter of apology to the Speaker through the secretary of the State Assembly.

It may be mentioned that the House Committee of the State Assembly had summoned Abhijit to appear in person on Thursday in connection with the derogatory remarks.

The meeting of the House Committee led by its chairperson and leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra had started at about 10.30 am on Thursday. However, instead of appearing in person, Abhijit sent a letter of apology to the Speaker.

Asked about the next course of action, Mishra said that the House Committee will take a decision in this regard very soon

It may be recalled that on the last day of the monsoon session of the State Assembly on September 20, Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat had approved formation of a six-member House Committee to be led by the Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra as the chairperson with Debi Prasad Mishra, KV Singhdeo, Pramila Mallick, Arun Sahu and Sanjay Dasburma as other members to probe the derogatory remarks of Abhijit.

The Committee will submit its report on the first day of the next session of the State Assembly.

The formation of the House Committee was decided at the all-party meeting convened by the Speaker after the members cutting across the party lines had vehemently protested and criticised the outrageous statement of Abhijit on Odisha, Lord Jagannath and the Chief Minister during the privilege motion moved by the Congress.

Both Abhijit and his journalist friend Arati Tikoo Singh had gone on an aerial tour to Konark and Puri with the former Kendrapara MP Baijanant Panda in his private helicopter recently.

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