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Odisha BJP suspends five leaders over Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation violence
The suspended BJP members include corporator Aparup Narayan Raut and four others, according to state president Manmohan Samal.
In a swift disciplinary move, Odisha Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday suspended five party leaders from the primary membership of the party following their alleged involvement in the violence at the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) office on Monday.
BJP state president Manmohan Samal suspended corporator Aparup Narayan Raut, Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra, Debashish Pradhan, Sachikanth Swain, and Sanjeev Mishra.
The BJP move comes after BMC additional commissioner Ratnakar Sahoo was allegedly dragged from his office and assaulted by a group of miscreants on Monday.
The Odisha Administrative Service Association has called for its members to go on a 'mass leave' from Tuesday to protest against the alleged assault of the senior OAS officer on Monday.
However, the association has decided to put their 'mass leave' protest on hold after they got an assurance from chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi that strong action will be taken against all culprits involved in the alleged assault of their senior colleague.
"The police have so far arrested three persons, including a BJP corporator Jeevan Rout, in connection with the assault and are searching for others," an officer said.
The state government held two meetings with the representatives from the OAS association on Monday night.
"The first meeting was held with chief secretary Manoj Ahuja in the presence of DGP Y B Khurania. Later, another round of meeting was conducted under the chairmanship of the chief minister in the presence of the chief secretary, DGP, police commissioner and advocate general. The meeting lasted till midnight," he said.
Sanitation workers in Bhubaneswar have called off their services in protest against the assault of the additional commissioner of the BMC. The workers demanded the immediate arrest of all accused in the incident.
(With inputs from PTI)
