BJD women MLAs demand removal of Jaynarayan Mishra from LoP post

Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal women MLAs of Odisha Assembly on Wednesday demanded removal of BJP MLA Jaynarayan Mishra from the post of Leader of Opposition in view of his alleged misbehaviour with a lady police inspector in Sambalpur.

The group of BJD MLAs led by Snehangini Chhuria met Assembly Speaker B K Arukha and placed their demands for removal of Mishra from the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP).

"We do not feel secure in the House in presence of Mishra. He has the habit of committing crime and his recent act of manhandling a woman police inspector in Sambalpur had added to our fear. Therefore, we want his removal from the Constitutional post," Chhuria told reporters after meeting the Speaker.

Chhuria also alleged that Mishra is capable of shoving and slapping a woman cop, chasing a policeman with a sword and attacking his party colleague, and a person with such a criminal bent of mind gives jitters ...

She claimed that women MLAs are finding it difficult to even accept him as an MLA.

The Odisha Legislative Assembly has 17 women MLAs of which 16 belonged to ruling BJD while BJP has a lone female lawmaker, Kusum tete from Sundergarh. Of the 16 BJD women MLAs, five are ministers.

The other BJD women MLAs are Sabitri Agarwal, Latika Pradhan, Aslaka Mohanty, Barsha Singh Bariha, Suryamani Baidhya, Snehangini Chhuria, Minakshi Mohanta, Sunanada Das, Manjula Swain, Padmini Dian and Simarani Nayak.

On February 15, Leader of Opposition Jaynarayan Mishra had allegedly pushed a woman police officer during a BJP protest in Sambalpur. Mishra, however, dismissed the charge and instead alleged that the Dhanupali Police Station Inspector in-charge Anita Pradhan had pushed him. Both had lodged police complaints against one another.