None should play politics over melee: BJD

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s main Opposition party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday said there should be no politics over the alleged physical alterca-tion between MPs of the Congress and BJP in Parliament earlier in the day.

The BJD, headed by former chief minister Naveen Patnaik, said that the inci-dent has belittled the glory of Parliament. “The truth behind the incident should come to the fore,” the BJD said in a statement. Stating that it is the duty and responsibility of all to upkeep the dignity of Parliament, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said that there is no place for violence in de-mocracy.

“Realising the importance of non-violence, BJD president Naveen Patnaik has proposed that the word – “Ahimsa” should be included in the Preamble of the Constitution,” Mohanty said.

The regional party demanded that action be taken against the persons re-sponsible for Thursday’s incident in Parliament. “There should be no politics over this incident. No one is above the law, be him/her an MLA, MP or son of a governor,” the BJD said.

The words ‘son of a governor’ alluded to Odisha Governor Raghubar Das’s son Lalit Kumar who allegedly assaulted a Raj Bhavan official in Puri on July 7.

A face-off between the Opposition and NDA MPs in Parliament premises over the alleged insult to B R Ambedkar left former Union minister and Bal-asore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi injured.

The BJP accused Rahul Gandhi of pushing the senior member, a charge re-jected by the Congress leader.