Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with a delegation, demanding security of people being allegedly tortured by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) workers in Odisha.
“Ten people lost their lives during the recent elections in Odisha. This a serious matter. A woman’s complaint is not heard and when she approaches the Prime Minister, she is being tortured,” said Pradhan.
The petroleum minister further added that the delegation has briefed Rajnath Singh about the situation, and the latter has assured of relevant action.
“Ten people have been killed in attacks by goons of the ruling party. We have briefed Home Minister regarding this. He has assured us of relevant action. These are political killings. The state government is not taking action, this is why we approached the Union Home Minister,” added Dharmendra Pradhan.
The development comes two days after a group of ruling BJD workers allegedly thrashed a woman who had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to the state.
The woman, identified as Parbati Sasmal, had handed over a letter to the Prime Minister elaborating to him the grievances she and other women continue to face under the Naveen Patnaik government.
Angered by the act, the BJD workers stormed into the woman’s residence here and brutally thrashed her. The victim hails from a village in Jagatsinghpur district. According to the victim, the goons even threatened her with consequences if she reported the matter to the police.
On April 15, a group of five women from the village had gone to Bhubaneshwar to meet PM Modi and submitted a memorandum to him. According to the BJD workers, media highlighted the matter aggressively.
Reacting to the news, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who hails from Odisha, said that ‘BJD was torturing poor people for voting in favour of the BJP in the panchayat elections’.
