BJP, Congress demand Home Min’s removal

The chain of events has led Opposition BJP and Congress to target the Minister of State for Home.
BJP, Congress demand Home Min’s removal

BHUBANESWAR: The mysterious disappearance of a lady teacher of Balangir for last 11 days has snowballed into a huge political controversy with Opposition political parties pointing fingers at Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra and demanding his ouster.

With a key suspect in the case fleeing from police custody on Sunday, it has further come as a huge embarrassment for the State government. The main suspect Gobinda Sahu is president of managing committee of Sunshine English Medium School in Kalahandi’s Mahaling where the teacher Mamita Meher was employed. The missing teacher was reportedly asked by Gobinda on October 8 to come to the school for some work. A native of Balangir’s Turekela, she took a bus to a certain point but became untraceable thereafter. She was to be picked up by Gobinda’s car later and her disappearance prompted the family to accuse the school managing committee president.

The chain of events has led Opposition BJP and Congress to target the Minister of State for Home. The parties on Monday demanded his removal for allegedly trying to protect Gobinda who was in police custody at Titlagarh but gave the cops a slip on Sunday.

Alleging that the Minister may try to influence the investigation because of his alleged close links with the main suspect, BJP MP from Kalahandi Basant Panda demanded that he should be first removed from the Cabinet so that truth can come to the fore. “CM Naveen Patnaik should immediately intervene in the matter and ensure rescue of the missing teacher,” he said.

The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) also demanded immediate removal of Mishra and a high-level probe into the incident. OPCC vice-president Santosh Singh Saluja demanded that the State government should agree for a CBI probe to unravel the truth behind the incident in which highly-placed people are involved. 

However, the Minister refuted the allegations and said that the law will take its own course. “We have full faith in the system. Anyone found guilty shall be punished,” he added.Ruling BJD threw its weight behind the Minister and party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty asked BJP and Congress to “desist from playing cheap politics on such a sensitive issue.” 

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