Senior Congress leaders campaign for the civic poll in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Sept. 12: Congress MLA from Ganjam Ramesh Jena will not be able to campaign here in view of the restrictions imposed on him by Orissa High Court.

Star campaigner Jena, considered the party’s strongman in the district, is an accused in the murder of a local gangster, Rabi Behera alias Chicken Rabi. The high court had instructed Jena not to enter Berhampur except only when his cases would come up for hearing in the local trial court.

Additional district judge Manas Ranjan Barik has fixed the next date of hearing on October 6, 7 and 8.

On September 5, the judge had asked Jena to appear before the Berhampur additional district judge court on September 15, 16 and 17. Jena was to arrive in Berhampur on September 15 and stay there till September 17. The Congress had hoped to use his presence to give a boost to their campaign.

However, district superintendent of police Anirudh Singh has expressed his inability to provide security to the MLA on the plea that the police would be busy with the security related to polling. On September 16 and 17, chief minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to visit the city and Singh had requested the additional district judge to fix another date for the hearing.

Public prosecutor Janeswar Mishra has also submitted a petition in the court not to allow Jena to enter Berhampur under the present situation, said the Congress MLA’s advocate Kishore Bishoyi. “There is no necessity of security measures for Jena,” said Nirmal Chandra Sahu, who is also the MLA’s lawyer.

Gangster Chicken Rabi was gunned down in the city on January 1, 2010, and the police subsequently arrested Jena for his alleged involvement in the murder. While granting the bail to the MLA, the high court had made it clear to Jena that he could remain in Bhubaneswar and visit his Sanakhemundi Assembly constituency in Ganjam district. He could go to Berhampur to attend the hearings on the case.

“It would have been better if Ramesh Jena could have campaigned for the party,” said Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Bikram Panda.