Bhubaneswar: Claiming that the killing of Minister Naba Kishore Das showed law and order has collapsed amid ‘jungle rule’ in Odisha, veteran Congress leader Narasingha Mishra on Monday said Naveen Patnaik has no moral right to remain Chief Minister.
The killing of the Minister proves that the intelligence wing is not functioning at all and the people are unable to feel the presence of police in the state, the senior legislator said.
“It shows law and order machinery has completely collapsed and the state is witnessing jungle rule. There is no rule of law. That is why a Minister has been killed by a policeman with his service weapon,” he alleged.
Either there is no proper security for people’s representatives, mainly Ministers, or there has been gross negligence, Mishra said, adding whose negligence has led to the incident is not yet known as no action has been taken so far against anyone.
It is the Chief Minister who is accountable for the killing and he should ask his conscience and assess his morality to know what step he should take now, the Congress leader said.
Instead of seeking Naveen’s resignation directly, it will be proper to state that he has no moral right to continue as Chief Minister, the former Minister said.
Unfortunately, people who believe in violence and have criminal background are being made Ministers by Naveen who uses ‘goondas’ to get votes in elections, he alleged.
Demanding an impartial probe into Naba’s killing, Mishra said he has full faith in the competence on the police officials entrusted with the task of investigating, but has doubts whether the government will allow then to conduct a fair and proper probe.
On reports about ASI Gopal Das suffering from psychological issues, the Congress said he does not believe this. If at all it is true, then the government should be responsible. He sought to know as to why the policeman was made in charge of an outpost and given a weapon if he had mental issues.
There seemed to be a deep rooted conspiracy behind the killing of the Minister and it was not a simple murder, he alleged.
