BJP hails disqualification of Congress MLA Jogesh Singh

BJP leader Sahadev Xaxa, who had challenged the caste status of the two-time Congress MLA Singh in the High Court, has described it as a victory for the tribals of Sundargarh district.​

SUNDARGARH: The order of the Orissa High Court on Tuesday declaring the election of Congress MLA from Sundargarh (ST) Assembly constituency Jogesh Singh as null and void has come as a blow to the Congress, but the Sundargarh unit of the BJP is in a jubilant mood.

Senior BJP leader Sahadev Xaxa, who had challenged the caste status of the two-time Congress MLA Singh in the High Court, has described it as a victory for the tribals of Sundargarh district.

The former Sundargarh unit BJP president Xaxa had lost to Singh in 2014 from Sundargarh Assembly Constituency. Challenging the caste of Singh, Xaxa had petitioned that Singh belonged to the general caste. Forging land documents, Singh  fought the election as a tribal candidate and his election was declared invalid, Xaxa said.

Xaxa claimed that Singh is a landlord belonging to Khandayat Bhuiyan community, which is not listed among the 64 tribes. Singh had forged land documents of a patch of five-decimal declaring himself as ‘Bhuiyan Adivasi’ and on this basis, he fought and won the election from the Sundargarh Assembly Constituency, reserved for ST. Xaxa claimed other land records of Singh show him as Khandayat Bhuiyan and since transfer of tribal land is banned in Sundargarh district, Singh used to declare himself as belonging to general category Khandayat Bhuiyan.

Alert railway staff avert train mishap

Berhampur: An alert gateman and pilots of a goods train averted a major railway mishap near Balugaon Level Crossing on Tuesday.

After detecting problem in a specific wagon, gateman BK Sethi alerted loco-pilot SN Patnaiik and co-pilot SK Sahoo who stopped the train immediately. However, the wheels of the wagon derailed and blocked the Up Line.

The derailment took place between Balugaon and Chilika stations at about 11.55 am. Railway sources said there was no injury or casualty due to the incident. An accident relief train and manpower from Khurda Road have been engaged in restoration work.

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