Nuapada: The fast-unto-death by 10 national-level players of the district in front of the district collectorate entered its fourth day on Saturday even as the BJP and the Congress extended their support to the demonstrators.
Four of the players were shifted to district headquarters hospital here after they fell ill on Friday night. The players have been on fast in front of the collectorate since Wednesday after their applications were not considered for the post of physical education instructor.
Political parties have left no stone unturned to derive mileage out of the situation. Senior leaders of both the BJP and the Congress thronged the district collectorate to extend their support to the players.
State BJP president Basant Panda was first to visit the protesters on Friday and expressed his party's solidarity towards their just demands.
Later in the day, district Congress president Ghasiram Majhi also joined the agitators and extended his support for their demands.
The BJP's District Yuva Morcha president of Nuapada Harischandra Panda said the demands of the players were genuine, and the party would continue to fight for them. "It is absolutely unfair the way they have been denied justice. Our party will take to the streets if such a situation arises," Panda said.
The Congress, too, echoed Panda's comments.
Sources said the department of school and mass education had brought out an advertisement in June for filling 37 posts of sports instructor in primary schools of Nuapada district.
In the advertisement, it had been mentioned that candidates should have been trained in physical education or they should have taken part in state or national-level sporting events.
Accordingly, 90 players and 26 trained candidates had applied for the post from the district. The advertisement also spoke of the provision of preference for local candidates.
But when the applications were shortlisted and the selected candidates were asked for verification of their certificates, the names of only 13 candidates from Nuapada featured in the list while the rest were from other districts.
This angered the local candidates.
