By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha PCC Chief Niranjan Patnaik on Monday came down heavily on BJP and accused the Saffron Party in State of behaving like a Coward. In a series of tweets, PCC Patnaik asked State BJP Chief Samir Mohanty and Party’s National general secretary in Charge of Odisha, D Purandeswari to refrain from such kind low level of politics.
“Last night, on my way to Keonjhar, my car was attacked by miscreants. They thrashed my driver and PSO. An FIR was lodged with the police. I was shocked to know that the miscreants were members of BJP’s Youth Wing,” Odisha PCC Chief Niranjan Patnaik tweeted @NPatnaikOdisha.
“This is a clear case of political vendetta and desperation of @BJP4Odisha. Congress is raising relevant issues in the state and speaking out against the policies of BJP, which is desperately trying to get a foothold in Odisha. Congress is the biggest hurdle for them,” Patnaik tweeted.
“I want to ask @SamirMohantyBJP ji & @PurandeswariBJP – why is your party behaving like a coward? I can understand the fear @INCOdisha invokes in your hearts, but why send goons? Is your party so intellectually impotent that you can’t find ways to fight us democratically?” Patnaik asked in another tweet.
“I am shaken by this incident! Not because it happened to me or because of the trauma it has caused me. I am shaken because if it can happen to me, how safe are our mothers and daughters in Odisha?,” Odisha PCC Chief Patnaik added.
The Keonjhar Town police on Monday arrested Sanjay Mohanty, BJP Yuva Morcha’s Keonjhar District Secretary, in connection with the attack bid on Congress veteran Patnaik. Four other accused have been identified and efforts were on to apprehend them, informed SP Mitrabhanu Mahapatra.
An FIR was lodged with the Keonjhar Town police on Sunday while Sanjay Mohanty’s name was mentioned in the complaint.The vehicle of the OPCC President was attacked by some miscreants near Kashipur, yesterday evening. When Patnaik was returning from the Keonjhar District Congress party office after attending a programme, a Bolero SUV intercepted the leader’s car near Kashipur around 8 PM. As Patnaik’s PSO, Rajesh Singh enquired the matter, three youths got down from the SUV. While one of them caught hold of the security officer’s neck, two others beat him up.
The attackers then went to the driver of the vehicle. In the meantime, an ambulance approached the spot. Some party activists also reached there. Hearing the ambulance siren, the miscreants thought it to be police vehicle and fled the spot, said Singh.
