Odisha: Opposition presses for minister Dibya Shankar Mishra's removal

BHUBANESWAR: The opposition political parties hit the streets for the fifth day in a row on Saturday demanding junior home minister

Dibya Shankar Mishra

's ouster citing his alleged closeness with Kalahandi schoolteacher Mamita Meher's murder accused, Gobinda Sahu.

This comes a day after Sahu confessed to his crime and coincided with the Odisha

State Commission for Women

(SCW) chairperson Minati Behera meeting Mamita's family members at their native place in Balangir district and assuring them of a fast-track fair probe into the crime.

Drawing the attention to Mishra's absence from a meeting addressed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in Baripada on Friday, where he was scheduled to share the dais with the CM, the opposition claimed that the BJD has indirectly conceded Mishra's guilt.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Satya Prakash Nayak said, "The BJD leadership seems to be confused about Mishra's fate. The CM is shy of sharing the stage with the tainted minister, but is not yet ready to remove him for reasons best known to him."

Echoing similar views, BJP state president Samir Mohanty said, "The BJD-led government has indirectly accepted the minister's fault by not allowing him to be part of the meeting addressed by Naveen. They must show him the door and bring him under the preview of investigation to ensure a fair probe, especially since the victim's family members have alleged the minister's involvement in the crime."

The BJP and the Congress leaders recalled that Anchalik Mahavidyala Mahaling founded by Sahu was the epicentre of Plus II question paper leak in 2013, following which a crime branch inquiry was ordered. However, under political patronage, the same tainted institution got massive government grants from MLA LAD funds and the Western Odisha Development Council. The area comes under the Junagarh assembly seat represented by Mishra.

However, the BJD continued to defend Mishra. BJD spokespersons Ipsita Sahoo and Elina Das said crimes against women is very high in BJP-governed states.

"The involvement of BJP leaders have come to the fore in many cases. But the BJP women's wing here is indulging in low-level politics on a sensitive issue," a press statement issued by the ruling party here said.