Congress rally turns violent amidst calls for 'change'
Party to observe Odisha bandh on September 10 to protest police action
Main opposition party Congress on Thursday made a scathing attack against the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government in the state during a massive rally here, which was attended by about 60,000 persons from across the state and paralysed half of the city traffic during working hours.
The ‘call-for-change’ event, organised by the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), imitating Mamata Banerjee’s call for Parivortan (change) that forced the 34-year old Left front regime to bite the dust in West Bengal, later turned violent as the Congress workers tried to break police cordon to reach close to the assembly premises.
To check the mob from entering the assembly premises, the heavily-guarded police resorted to lathicharge, lobbed tear gas shells and used water cannons to chase the Congress supporters away.
Sources said 60 people, including some policemen, were injured after thousands of Congressmen clashed with the security personnel.
During the rally, the opposition party leaders targeted the government and spoke about a series of scams exposed in mining, water, dal, rural job gurantee scheme, coal, fertilisers, distribution of BPL rice and also about increase in electricity tariffs.
“States like Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Karnataka have agreed for the CBI inquiry in the alleged mining scam. On the contrary, the BJD government has not given its nod for the CBI enquiry,” said Niranjan Patnaik, president of OPCC, while addressing the rally here.
“This government has surpassed all limits of corruption. It is the only area in which the state has grown by leaps and bounds while it is languishing at the bottom of the table in terms of social and economic indicators,” he added.
The PCC criticised the Naveen Patnaik-ruled government for surge in electricity tariffs saying it is a pity that in a state where coal is available in abundance, the power tariff have soared by three times.
On the coal block allotment scam, he said, Centre had attempted to introduce bidding process for coal block allocation but it was strongly opposed by the Odisha government.
“The state government is busy in signing MoUs (memorandum of understanding) with the companies but how many of them have taken off. In the name of industrialization the government is filling its own coffers,” he pointed out.
Reacting to the Congress’s show of strength, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “Congress leaders are continuing their old habit of making false allegations against our state government. The whole nation can see that they are in deep trouble in the both houses of Parliament with a number of serious corruption charges leveled against them.”
Later at a press conference in the evening, the OPCC president called for Odisha bandh on September 10 and demanded an enquiry into the police action against the Congress supporters by the Lokpal or a sitting high court justice.