Bhubaneswar: A delegation of Odisha unit of the BJP, led by party chief whip in the Assembly, Mohan Majhi met Governor Ganeshi Lal here Tuesday. They sought his intervention in connection with the arrest of party MLA Subash Chandra Panigrahi recently. The BJP delegation alleged that the police had falsely implicated Panigrahi and requested the Governor for withdrawal of the case against the legislator.
Panigrahi, the legislator from Deogarh Assembly segment, was arrested Sunday for allegedly assaulting Tileibani BDO Krushna Chandra Dalapati.
“It is unfortunate that Opposition MLAs neither get respect nor feel safe under Naveen Patnaik government,” said Majhi to mediapersons after meeting the Governor Lal.
“The BDO had misbehaved with Panigrahi. The police did not take any action even though the MLA had lodged an FIR in this connection. However, police arrested Panigrahi acting on the BDO’s FIR filed at least three hours later,” Majhi alleged.
According to Majhi, Panigrahi had contacted the Tileibani BDO April 30 to discuss some important issues. The BDO first told Panigrahi to meet him at the block office. Subsequently he changed the venue of the meeting to four different places one after another. However, the MLA could not find the BDO at any of these four places.
Finally, the MLA met the BDO at Bhaliagudi village. Upon seeing the MLA, the BDO scolded him and threatened to kill him, the BJP leaders alleged in the memorandum submitted to the Governor.
Though several incidents of attack on BJP legislators have been reported in the recent past, no action has been taken against the culprits. However, Panigrahi, who had not assaulted the BDO, was arrested without proper investigation, alleged Majhi and sought the arrest of the BDO for violating Book Circular 47, a circular issued by the the Odisha government on observance of relationship between MP/MLAs and government servants.
“The Book Circular 47 is not being implemented properly and the officers are very carelessly dealing with the MPs and MLAs. It is seen that some officers are daring to ignore the Book circular- 47 at large for which the MPs and MLAs are feeling humiliated,” said the BJP leaders in the memorandum.
The BJP leaders requested the Governor to instruct the Odisha government to direct all the public servants to follow the Book Circular- 47 properly for a conducive and congenial atmosphere between public servants and MPs /MLAs.