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BJD MLA Prasanta Jagdev accused of assaulting BJP leader in Odisha; suspended
BJD legislator Prasanta Jagdev was suspended by Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik after allegations of assault surfaced on social media.
BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday suspended its Chilika legislator Prasant Jagdev from the party hours after he allegedly beat up a BJP leader over the distribution of assistance for building houses and ration cards near Chilika lake.
Jagdev, who has courted controversies over his strong-arm tactics, allegedly thrashed BJP’s Niranjan Sethi when he protested delays in the distribution of cards under the National Food Security Act and assistance for construction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Balugaon area of Khurda district. Jagdev also attacked a photojournalist and snatched his mobile. A video clip of the incident was circulated widely on social media platforms.
A one-line announcement from the BJD president Naveen Patnaik followed.
“Shri Prashanta Kumar Jagdev, MLA, Chilika Assembly Constituency is hereby suspended from Biju Janata Dal with immediate effect,” Patnaik’s order said.
Later Prasanta Jagdev was also removed from the post of president of Khurda district’s planninng committee.
“Prasanta Jagdev pounced on me like a goonda (ruffian),” Sethi told reporters. Following the incident, scores of BJP workers staged a dharna in front of the Balugaon police station demanding the arrest of the BJD legislator.
In August last year, Jagdev was accused of misbehaviour with a junior engineer with the Chilika Development Authority when he stayed at the authority’s Scientist Hostel. The MLA was allegedly inebriated when he threatened engineer Jagabandhu Sahu after an altercation.
In December 2018, Prasanta Jagdev allegedly threatened former Begunia sarpanch Naba Swain at the block office in the presence of district officials. The protesters alleged that though Swain lodged a complaint against Jagdev on January 4, no action was taken against the MLA.
Earlier in November 2016, he allegedly flung a kerosene lantern at the woman tehsildar of Bolgad when she was mapping a plot of land. In July 2016, Prasanta Jagdev and his supporters were accused of assaulting BJP activists over showing black flags to the then food supply minister Sanjay Kumar Das Burma in Boudh district.
