BHUBANESWAR: Engagement of bouncers at the Congress Bhavan on Friday during an interaction meeting with district office-bearers fails to die down with more leaders coming out openly to disapprove it.
Targeting president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik for the incident, secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Sarat Rout said if he was unaware of the presence of the bouncers, an inquiry should have been ordered.
Stating that such an incident had never happened in the history of Congress in Odisha, Rout said a committee of senior leaders should be constituted to probe the matter.
Rout said the incident should be taken seriously as it happened in the presence of a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). “Who had engaged the bouncers and who allowed them into the Congress Bhavan should be found out,” he said and added that if the OPCC president knows who brought the bouncers, then an FIR should be filed against that person.
Stating that the OPCC president is responsible for whatever happens inside the Congress Bhavan in his presence, Rout said no leader or worker will support the presence of the bouncers inside the party office.
“Maybe either the BJD or BJP had sent these bouncers to Congress Bhavan. If any Congress leader is behind the incident, action must be taken against him,” he said. The incident took place when the Student Congress activists were denied entry into the party office by a group of bouncers.
Protesting the incident, the activists had staged a dharna in front of Congress Bhawan. Apart from Rout, two senior party leaders Suresh Routray and Tara Prasad Bahinipati had also condemned the incident.
However, the OPCC president had dismissed the allegations as baseless.