A day after Odisha police denied permission to Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to visit a Maoist-hit village in Malkangiri district, the state unit of BJP today alleged a "conspiracy" behind the incident.
Pradhan, accompanied by state BJP president Basant Panda and BJP legislature party leader K V Singhdeo, had yesterday visited Palkonda village to meet those families who lost their children to Japanese Encephalitis (JE). The Union Minister was under the security cover of BSF jawans.
Pradhan had to take in the security of the Central force after Odisha Police refused to accompany him to the affected village for security reason.
"We toured two villages in Malkangiri district without any personnel of Odisha Police. When we started from BSF camp to Palkonda village, there were two police escort vehicles for the minister. But after covering a distance of around two kilometres, the escort vehicles pulled up to the side and stayed back. After we arrived at the guest house, neither the Collector nor SP met the Union Minister," Singhdeo told reporters here.
Alleging that the state government forgot to maintain the security protocol meant for visiting Central ministers, Singhdeo blamed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is also in-charge of the home department, for the goof-up.
BJP state president Basant Panda criticised the Chief Minister for not visiting Malkangiri, even as about 100 children have so far died of JE and other diseases within a span of two months.
"It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister has time to roam around different places in Odisha to inaugurate projects. But he has no time to visit Malkangiri till now," he said.
Meanwhile, Pradhan stated, "I do not understand why the local police denied permission to my visit despite the state government clearing the programme. I was forbidden from visiting Palkonda village.
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