BHUBANESWAR: The State BJP on Monday clarified that the two youths who barged into the office of party president Basanta Panda and threatened him at gun-point are not members of the party. They were identified as Pinak Mohanty and Sambit Panda.
Dismissing the claim of the two youths, that they are members of the saffron party, senior BJP leader and former minister Manmohan Samal said they were in no way associated with the party and this is a mischievous attempt by them to create confusion.
While the State is witnessing increasing incidents of political violence in the last couple of months, Monday’s shocking incident proved the deteriorating law and order situation, Samal said.
Suspecting this to be handiwork of some vested interests, Samal said the truth will come out if case is properly investigated by police. Stating hat violence has no place in democracy, the BJP leader said what is more shocking is that none of the political parties, including the ruling BJD, has condemned the incident.
A delegation of the BJP comprising Samal, Samir Mohanty, Pruthiraj Harichandan, Bhrugu Baxipatra, Kalandi Samal, Dilip Mohanty and Dilip Mallick met Director General of Police RP Sharma at his camp office here and demanded a thorough inquiry into the incident. They also demanded adequate security for Panda and other party leaders.