By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik faced embarrassment when his alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) boycotted the ruling coalition’s joint legislature party meeting Tuesday ahead of the assembly’s winter session beginning Wednesday.
The BJP boycotted the meet to protest the failure of the government to arrest those involved in the killing of a Hindu leader and four of his aides in Kandhamal district Aug 23, the party’s national vice president Jual Oram told IANS.
“The state government is playing a double role. While it has arrested a large number of innocent people in Kandhamal district for their alleged involvement in communal violence, it was yet to nab those who murdered Swamiji and four others,” he said.
“The government has also not allowed BJP leaders to visit the riots-affected areas,” he said.
Kandhamal district, some 200 km from here, witnessed widespread communal violence after the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides.
Though Maoist rebels have claimed responsibility for the murder, some Hindu organisations see Christians’ hand behind the crime.
Thousands of Christians were forced to flee their homes after attacks by rampaging mobs. More than 10,000 are still living in government-run relief camps in the district.
The state government says the situation is still tense in some areas of the district.