After Boycott Threat, BJP Leader Suresh Pujari Defends His Presence At Odisha CM’s Programme

Jharsuguda: Did senior BJP leader and Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari renege on a promise by attending Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s programme in Jharsuguda on Monday?

Following the arrest of several workers of the saffron party, while staging protests over the Mamita Meher murder case, the MP had earlier slammed the ruling BJD for muzzling the voices of opposition and announced that he would not share the stage with the CM ever again.

Stating that the history was repeating itself, Pujari said that Congress had employed this strategy which led to its fall in the state in the 1990s and the BJD will face similar consequences.

Defending his decision, the Bargarh MP, however, said that he was at the Jharsuguda programme since the CM attended it in virtual mode. “I had announced to boycott his events when the mother of a Dalit youth, who was murdered, was not allowed to meet him. However, he was not present here physically,” he said.

Pujari said that he had boycotted events in Bargarh where the CM was present.

He further said that the programme was not only about the distribution of BSKY smart health cards but also the inauguration of different projects and schemes proposed along with the settlement of families displaced by the Hirakud dam project, issues which he had been raising in Parliament for the last 10 years.

“My presence at the event during the foundation stone laying ceremony was essential,” he added.