Odisha Panchayat Polls: BJP Meets DGP For Actions Against BJD Workers

Bhubaneswar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday appealed to Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure law and order in the state for fair and peaceful panchayat elections.

A memorandum, submitted by a team of BJP leaders led by the party’s state general secretary Lekhashri Samantsinhar to DGP Sunil Kumar Bansal, stated that the ruling BJD was creating an atmosphere of fear by resorting to violent means to influence the voters.

Citing the recent incidents involving the ruling party workers, the memorandum said its candidate for zilla parishad member post of zone II in Malkangiri district  Pradip Kumar Madkami was initially threatened to withdraw nomination and later, kidnapped on January 31.

In another incident, the BJP alleged that though home guard Sudhir Swain was allegedly involved in bribing, kidnapping and threatening its ZP candidate of Kalimela, Malkangiri Rina Kabasi, no action has been taken by police against Swain.

Similarly, the police have failed to take any action against BJD workers who had murdered BJP activist Subasish Giri in Bhadrak on February 1, the BJP delegation stated in the memorandum.

Though BJP has filed cases with police alleging involvement of BJD workers in all the criminal incidents, no step has been initiated against the accused, the memorandum stated.

Stating that it is the constitutional duty of the DGP to maintain law and order in the state, the BJP leaders demanded urgent and stern actions against the perpetrators of violent incidents.