Orissa bandh peaceful

BHUBANESWAR, JAN 13: The 12-hour Orissa bandh sponsored by major Opposition parties demanding the resignation of Chief Minister J B Patna...

BHUBANESWAR, JAN 13: The 12-hour Orissa bandh sponsored by major Opposition parties demanding the resignation of Chief Minister J B Patnaik and a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the Anjana Mishra gang rape case passed off peacefully except for stray incidents.

The bandh evoked a mixed response as shops and business establishments remained closed and public transport was paralysed, but government offices and some banks and educational institutions functioned normally, reports received from the districts said.

Altogether 4,771 Opposition activists were taken into custody as they came out to enforce the bandh. However, there was no major incident or law and order problem anywhere, Home Secretary S C Hota told PTI.

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Hota claimed that normal life in the State was not affected at all while Biju Janata Dal president and Union Minister for Steel and Mines Naveen Patnaik and Janata Dal chief Ashok Das congratulated the people separately on their spontaneous response to the bandh call.

The BJD chief said that though the Chief Minister had ordered a judicial probe into the Anjana Mishra case, he should step down till the enquiry was over.

Patnaik told a news conference that with the State witnessing a total breakdown of law and order, a situation was fast approaching where the imposition of President’s Rule in the State would become imperative.

The JD president, while calling upon all secular, democratic, progressive and Left forces to join hands to oust the Congress regime, challenged the Chief Minister to seek a fresh mandate from the people, particularly on the law and order situation in the State.

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The BJD president said that since the Chief Minister had himself spoken of a political conspiracy against him after the “heinous assault on Mishra on Saturday night”, he should opt for a CBI probe into the incident to unravel the truth. A CBI inquiry could be ordered while a judicial probe was on, he said.

He said although his party had full faith in the judiciary, there was need for the Chief Minister’s ouster so that witnesses were not influenced.

Das denied that his party was politicising the gang rape incident, saying the JD-Left alliance was more concerned about the rapid decline in the law and order situation and rising atrocities on women in Orissa.

Das also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government at the Centre was soft on the J B Patnaik regime because of its own `arithmetic compulsions’ in Parliament.

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Official sources said three members of Parliament, Rasbehari Barik, Bhartruhari Mahtab and Tathagat Satpathy, all belonging to the BJD, and 22 BJD, JD and BJP members of the Legislative Assembly were taken into custody at various places during the day.