Bhubaneswar: Joining the nationwide protest call given by the party, Odisha Congress leaders Thursday staged a protest in Bhubaneswar demanding action against four NDA leaders over their alleged controversial remarks against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Holding banners and posters, the Congress leaders and workers took out a protest rally from Congress Bhawan near Master Canteen Square.
When they marched towards the state BJP office here, the police stopped them at Kharavelnagar, leading to a scuffle between the cops and Congress workers.
The police detained several activists and released them later.
After the protest, the Congress leaders lodged a complaint with the Kharvelnagar police station in the city against BJP leaders – Tarvinder Singh Marwah, Raghuraj Singh, Ravneet Bittu (Minister of State for Railways) and Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad.
Speaking to media persons, senior Congress leader and former union minister Srikant Jena said, “Those who have hatched a conspiracy to assassinate Rahul Gandhi are roaming freely. The police have not yet arrested them. Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Union Home Minister Amit Shah have commented on this issue till now.”
Condemning the remarks made by the BJP and NDA leaders, Jena demanded immediate arrest of the leaders.
Similarly, Congress MLA Sofia Firdous said the NDA government is worried over the rise of Congress and the popularity of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Due to strong opposition, the union government was forced to take back some major decisions like reservation for creamy layer, and UPSC lateral entry, she said.
“After becoming intolerant towards the Congress, the BJP and NDA leaders are threatening to kill Rahul Gandhi in public. We condemn such personal attacks on Gandhi. It is not acceptable at all in a healthy democracy like India,” she said.
On the other hand, Odisha BJP leader Biranchi Tripathy said the people of this country have already witnessed Rahul Gandhi’s remarkable comment he made against the Sikh community during his recent foreign trip.
“Rahul Gandhi has made several comments against India in foreign countries. For this, the Congress party first needs to seek an apology from the people of this country,” he said while terming the protest of Congress as a “face-saving” exercise.
Ravneet Bittu had called Rahul Gandhi the “number one terrorist of the country” while speaking publicly to the media, while Tarvinder Singh Marwah had publicly issued an “assassination” threat against the former Congress president, the Congress leaders claimed.
The Congress leaders added that Sanjay Gaikwad, an MLA of the Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, had publicly announced a bounty of Rs 11 lakh “for anyone who will cut the tongue of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi”.
PTI