Odisha Cong Panel To Probe Entry Of Bouncers At Party HQ

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Congress on Thursday formed a three-member committee to probe into the entry of bouncers on the premises of Congress Bhawan recently. The committee will then submit its report to AICC.

Acting president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik informed that the committee is led by Ranjib Biswal. The two other members are Batakrushna Tripathy and Nishikanta Mishra.

However, former convener of Odisha Chhatra Congress Itish Pradhan has condemned the decision. “How can the committee probe the matter when the OPCC president and his son, Navjyoti Patnaik, had hired the bouncers against Student Congress activists? It is like handing over the treasury key to a thief. This is just an attempt to save these two leaders from criticism,” he pointed out.

Earlier, Pradhan had accused the OPCC president of having a nexus with the ruling BJD. Following this, Patnaik had suspended Pradhan as the Student Congress convener.

The incident had taken place on January 10 when some bouncers had threatened Pradhan and some Student Congress activists against entering the party headquarters.