When eggs became a hot potato

Eggs have turned into a political hot potato in Odisha. In May, Biju Janata Dal member of Parliament Baijayant Panda was pelted with eggs — besides slippers and stones — in Cuttack. He refused to file an FIR then but has now raked up the attack himself: “No arrest has been made only in one incident... because it also involved stones and brickbats?” he tweeted. Earlier, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik informed the state Assembly that “89 persons have been arrested in 15 egg-throwing incidents” in the state and that there had been no arrests only in one incident — the one involving Panda. Opposition leaders in the state lost no time in targeting the government on the issue. The state units of both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress alleged that the ruling party was involved in the attack, so no action could be taken.