BHUBANESWAR: Problems for BJD MLA Debasis Samantaray seem far from over as demand for his arrest has gained ground after a video showing the legislator misbehaving with a relative of Pulwama terrorist attack martyr Manoj Behera of Niali surfaced in Pakistani media.
Pakistani TV channel Azad News recently telecast a footage of the incident.Adding to the woes of the MLA, former minister Damodar Rout demanded Samantaray’s arrest for damaging Odisha’s name outside the country. “Abhijit Iyer Mitra was in jail even after apologising for his anti-Odisha remarks. Similarly, Samantaray should be arrested,” he said. Rout also criticised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his silence over the matter.
Samantaray, on the other hand, apologised once again for his behaviour and requested all not to politicise the matter. “I had only made the relative of the martyr sit down after he pushed Union Minister Jual Oram during the guard of honour. I had no intention of hurting anyone’s feelings,” he said.
The BJD legislator said he had talked and discussed with the martyr’s kin about the incident and the latter understood that I had made him sit to enforce discipline.Samantaray’s misbehaviour with Behera’s kin during the last rites of the martyr on February 16 had drawn flak across the country. Opposition parties Congress and BJP had condemned such behaviour towards a kin of the martyr when the entire nation was in grief.