Bhubaneswar/Berhampur: BJP leader and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi has for the second time in quick succession locked horns with the Odisha government over visiting temples along with hordes of her supporters.
After creating a stir on April 27 by walking to the Jagannath Temple in Puri to pay obeisance to Lord Jagannath and His sibling deities, she did an encore on Friday by traveling three km on foot to have darshan of Goddess Tara Tarini in Ganjam district.
The MP along with her supporters started walking to the Tara Tarini temple after the district administration did not allow her carcade to travel further. “If this is how Maa Tara Tarini wants me to visit the shrine, then so be it,” she told reporters.
“I used to come here when I was posted in Berhampur as the Additional District Magistrate. I am glad that I could visit the temple after so many years,” she said.
“I wanted to come here to seek the blessings of Maa Tara Tarini. I do not want to make any allegations against anybody. This seems to be the wish of Maa Tara Tarini, so I am walking,” she said.
Clarifying, the official Twitter handle of the Collector and District Magistrate, Ganjam, termed as false reports that permission was denied for her vehicle. “Hon MP bbsr visited Taratarini mandir. We requested to go with two vehicles, But Hon MP denied and started walking towards mandir. This news about denied permission for vehicle is false. You can see three vehicles of Hon MP at hilltop Mandir site,” it tweeted along with a photo of three vehicles at the temple site.
Last month also, while visiting Puri, police had stopped the MP’s motorcade at Kathapola and requested her to either go alone or with a few supporters for ‘darshan’ of Lord Jagannath.
She refused, came out of her vehicle and started on a ‘padyatra’ towards the temple. The administration was then forced to take her and her followers in government vehicles till Medical Square. From there, she and her followers got down from the vehicles and walked to the temple.
