Bhubaneswar, Mar 6: The BJP held a protest on Thursday alleging that the miscreants arrested for damaging the statue of Biju Patnaik in Mahanga area of Cuttack district are the workers of opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

The BJP workers accused the BJD party of hatching a conspiracy to malign the state government. The protestors were holding photos in which the culprits arrested for the vandalism were reportedly seen with a senior BJD leader and former MLA of Mahanga Pratap Jena.

“These photos prove that the accused persons are the active members of the Biju Janata Dal. At the behest of BJD president Naveen Patnaik and ex-Mahanga MLA Pratap Jena, they decapitated the statue of Biju Patnaik. BJD has hatched a plot to blame Bharatiya Janata Party,” alleged a protestor.

The BJP workers also alleged that it is very shameful that BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik disrespected his own father Biju Babu by hatching the plot to damage the statue of the legendary leader.

“The 4.5 crore people in Odisha from all sections of the society love Biju Patnaik. All the top leaders of BJP, including CM Mohan Charan Majhi himself, paid tributes to Biju Babu. We did not expect that Naveen Babu would stoop so low. He couldn’t tolerate the respect given by BJP leaders to Biju Patnaik and used his supporters to damage his father’s statue. We will expose this act of Naveen Patnaik and bring all this fact before the Odia people,” alleged Youth BJP President, Swayam Sevak Ray.

Notably, the Cuttack police, following the analysis of CCTV footage on Wednesday, arrested three persons on the charges of damaging the statue of Biju Patnaik within 24 hours of the incident.

Odisha Leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday, during his speech at the BJD headquarters, targeted the BJP government for delaying to take action against the culprits in connection with incidents of vandalism of Biju Patnaik’s statue in Mahanga area of Cuttack district.

“Recently, there have been shameful incidents across the state where statues of the late Biju Patnaik have been vandalised. Yet, no action has been taken by the government to punish the culprits,” alleged BJD Supremo on Wednesday.

Taking a dig at the BJD supremo over the allegations of state government’s apathy, CM Mohan Charan Majhi said the BJD tried to score political mileage by unfairly alleging the state government of not arresting the accused persons.

“I want to say that those who have damaged the Biju Patnaik's Statue are now in jail. When I came to know about the news, I ordered the police to immediately arrest culprits, whoever they may be and wherever they are now. Our police have already arrested those culprits who are now in jail,” said the Chief Minister.

--IANS

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