Bhubaneswar, Oct 11 (IANS) With the student union election campaign intensifying across colleges and universities in Odisha, the Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Sunday accused the State Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Minister Gokulananda Mallik of using the police machinery and anti-social elements to capture students’ unions in Polasara, Buguda, Balipada and adjoining areas of Ganjam district.
The BJD has alleged that the Minister is using the administrative machinery to intimidate candidates and force them to withdraw their nominations.
Addressing a press conference at Sankha Bhawan in Bhubaneswar on Sunday, BJD General Secretary and former Minister Srikant Sahu, alongside party spokesperson Tumbanath Panda, condemned the alleged misuse of government machinery to intimidate candidates and force them to withdraw their nominations.
“After the announcement of the students’ union election schedule, Minister Gokulananda Mallik, realising that the Biju Chhatra Janata Dal had the strongest prospects of winning at Polasara, Buguda and Balipada colleges, used the local administration and anti-social elements to exert pressure on candidates and their families, compelling them to withdraw their nominations,” Sahu said.
He also alleged that even after incidents of violence, complaints lodged with the local police have yielded no results.
Sahu also strongly condemned the Minister’s abuse of power to bring students’ unions under his control.
Similarly, BJD spokesperson Tumbanath Panda said that the remarks made by Mallik about the former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, in an attempt to conceal his own incompetence, were condemnable.
The BJD leader added that while the former Chief Minister had established Odisha as a model state at the global level and earned widespread appreciation, the two-and-a-half-year tenure of current BJP government has been bringing disrepute to the state in every sphere because of its misgovernance.
“There is a competition among BJP leaders and Ministers to remain in the limelight by making comments about Naveen Patnaik Babu. The people of the country and the state are well aware of Naveen Babu’s personality and his record of governance,” Panda alleged.
He alleged that the people of Odisha are already fed up with the misgovernance of the BJP government over the past two-and-a-half years and in the days to come, they will give the state government an appropriate response.
The students’ union elections will be held in all colleges across the state on October 15 after a gap of eight years.
–IANS
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