Niranjan Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 26: Buoyed by the “success” of its Naveen Hatao, Odisha Banchao rally on September 6, the Odisha Congress today decided to target the BJD government on the state’s deteriorating law and order situation.

“We will intensify our fight against the BJD government, which has failed to maintain law and order in Odisha. The police have become a puppet in the hands of the ruling party,” said state Congress president Niranjan Patnaik.

Stating that the party would carry forward its struggle to the panchayat level in the coming days, Niranjan said the Congress would launch a weeklong padayatra from Gandhi Jayanti, which will go to various parts of Odisha.

“We will bring the scams and failures during Naveen Patnaik regime before the people during the padayatra,” he said, after presiding over the party’s Odisha executive this evening.

The executive met here today on the eve of the Odisha unit’s general body meeting, which is slated for tomorrow. Around 2,000 delegates are expected to attend the general body meeting.

Congress legislature party leader Bhupinder Singh said the Naveen Patnaik government had “surpassed” all governments in corruption and misdeeds. “However, the BJD is trying to defame the Congress cunningly. The Congress supporters should expose this by bringing the truth before the people,” Singh said.

Mahila Congress leader Bijoylaxmi Sahoo alleged that the state police were torturing and assaulting the workers and supporters of the Opposition parties at the behest of the BJD. She cited the September 6 incident, in which several Congress supporters, including many women, were injured in the police lathicharge during the Congress’ rally near the Odisha Assembly. A resolution condemning the police “assault” on the Congress workers was passed in today’s meeting.

Resolutions were also moved on the alleged failure of the BJD government, mining scams and anti-farmer policies, said Odisha Congress general secretary Arya Kumar Gyanendra.