BHUBANESWAR: The Congress has constituted a three-member committee headed by Rajya Sabha Member Ranjib Biswal to probe into the incident of engagement of bouncers at the party headquarters on January 17 when a high-level meeting was going on to find out ways for its revival.
The panel has been asked to submit report to OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik as early as possible. Two other members of the committee are Batakrushna Tripathy and Nishikanta Mishra. The meeting was attended by general secretary of AICC in-charge Jitendra Singh, the OPCC president and other senior leaders.
However, suspended Chhatra Congress leader Itish Pradhan said the probe panel is an eyewash. Pradhan was allegedly heckled by the bouncers when he was trying to enter the Congress Bhavan to protest against his suspension which he said was illegal. Pradhan and his supporters sat on a dharna in protest.
Several leaders, including former minister Kanhu Charan Lenka and senior MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati, had disapproved deployment of bouncers in Congress Bhavan, party MLA Suresh Routray had said political rivals BJD and BJP had deployed the bouncers to defame the party. Routray had earlier criticised engagement of musclemen.