Orissa Cong dissidents urge Sonia to oust CM…

NEW DELHI, Jan 12: The crisis in Orissa over the alleged gang rape of Anjana Mishra spilled over into the Capital today when around 10 st...

NEW DELHI, Jan 12: The crisis in Orissa over the alleged gang rape of Anjana Mishra spilled over into the Capital today when around 10 state ministers, all ranged against Chief Minister J B Patnaik, arrived here to meet party chief Sonia Gandhi and seek Patnaik’s ouster.

The allegations have caused a furore in Orissa with Patnaik too being named by the victim as having a part in the attack on her. The issue led to Sonia angrily asking Patnaik to take immediate steps to get to the “bottom of the matter” and report to her on a daily basis.

Following this, the dissidents have been emboldened to approach Sonia on Patnaik’s sacking. The group of ministers is led by Deputy Chief Minister Basant Kumar Biswal and Transport Minister K C Lenka who have actively campaigned against Patnaik in the past too. “We have come here to meet our party president Sonia Gandhi and complain about the breakdown of law and order in Orissa following alleged rape for the second time of Anjana Mishra,” the duo said shortly aftertheir arrival here.

They said public anger against the Congress government in the state was so strong that they were “unable to face people because of the shameful act and failure of state government in maintaining law and order”. The idea is to hit out at Patnaik when anger against him is high in the party leadership.

Among the leaders who arrived here are: Bhagabat Mohanty (Higher Education), Amar Pradhan (Health), Jaidev Jena (Mass Education), Bibuti Bhushan Merdaraj (Deputy Speaker) and Santosh Kumar Saluja (Deputy Chief Whip).