Candidates death casts a shadow over CMs visit

BHUBANESWAR: Death of a Congress-backed ward member candidate in Balangir district cast a shadow over Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s  whistle-stop tour to the Western Odisha district on Friday. The candidate belonged to village Thapapali in Bairasar Panchayat of Puintala block. Naveen addressed four election meetings in the district. Tension ran high  after hundreds of villagers of Thapapali and Congress workers gheraoed the District Collectorate holding the body of the deceased ward member candidate Ekadasia Majhi (30). Ekadasia was found dead on Thursday afternoon. The protestors demanded immediate arrest of  accused and rival candidate Bhagirathi Thapa, who is reportedly absconding, compensation of ` 10 lakh to the kin of the deceased, impartial probe into the incident and action against guilty cops. The villagers took out a protest rally led by Sudhir Parichha and senior Congress leader Hemant Panda. The gherao continued for more than an hour in the afternoon till the Balangir Sub-Collector Jyoti Ranjan Pradhan reached the spot. The gherao was called off when Pradhan gave written assurance to look into the demands after the lapse of model code of conduct.  Panda maintained that the death could have been averted had the police played a proactive role.  Meanwhile, describing Ekadasia’s death as a murder, the OPCC in Capital on Friday alleged that the BJD has adopted violence to intimidate the Opposition after becoming sure about its defeat in the panchayat polls.  Condemning the death of the Congress-backed candidate, former minister Narasingh Mishra said the incident has exposed the frustration of the BJD. He said Ekadasia was an active member of the Congress and had played a key role in the success of the party’s meeting at Puintala a few days back. Mishra alleged that Ekadasia was kidnapped by goons of the BJD and later killed. He said though a missing report was filed at 9 pm, police did not act in time.  There is an unholy nexus between the police and the ruling BJD to terrorise the workers of Opposition parties, he charged.

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