"A statement of a senior Odisha minister shows some BJD men had been sent to mingle in the crowd during our rally to trigger violence as part of a conspiracy in order to defame us," media cell chief of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), Narasingh Mishra told reporters here.
He said the minister, who also happens to be a vice president of BJD, had told the media that some people raised slogans in favour of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the ruling BJD during Congress rally.
"In view of the minister's statement, we suspect that BJD had hatched a conspiracy and sent its workers to indulge in violence. It was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of Congress," Mishra said.
It is now clear that the same BJD men had attacked the woman police personnel while a couple of Congress workers saved the lady cop and took her away, the Congress leader alleged and said, the police woman was perhaps deployed at the site deliberately to create trouble.
Refuting the allegation, senior BJD leader and health minister Damodar Rout said Congress, which is under attack for September 6 violence, should not blame BJD.
Both Mishra and PCC President Niranjan Patnaik hit out at the government and police for deploying the woman cop even after declaring the assembly of Congress supporters as unlawful. "According to law, only male police personnel are used to disperse unlawful assembly," they said.
Alleging a conspiracy behind sending the lady cop for creating trouble, Mishra said only an independent and impartial investigation can unravel the truth. (MORE)