Congress leadership admits differences in Odisha CLP over Nayagarh girl issue

The Congress leadership on Friday admitted that differences had cropped up within the legislature party in Odisha over issues related to the alleged kidnapping and murder of a five-year-old girl in Nayagarh district, but it was sorted out. A Chella Kumar, the Congress in-charge of the state, said, "There was some miscommunication among the MLAs over the partys demand for a court monitored SIT instead of a CBI probe into the girl child issue." Senior MLA Suresh Routray had made certain accusations against some of his colleagues but it was sorted out, said Kumar with Routray standing next to him.

Routray on November 30 had alleged that the party legislators could not demand the resignation of Agriculture Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo, who was allegedly shielding the main accused in the girl's kidnapping and murder, as the CLP leadership was "managed". Congress MLA Santosh Singh Saluja too had stated that the party's stand was very clear in the initial phase but later it went mum after the demand for an SIT probe into the case was fulfilled.

Kumar said that the party from the beginning had been demanding a court monitored Special Investigation Team to probe the girl's kidnapping and murder incident as the CBI could not come up to the expectation in several cases. The BJP is seeking a CBI probe into the matter.

"The Congress wants early justice for the victim girl's family," Kumar said, adding that the chief minister has accepted the party's demand and constituted an SIT. Rejecting the opposition BJP's allegation that Congress bailed out the ruling BJD by not demanding the agriculture minister's resignation, Kumar said, "The BJP and the BJD are two sides of one coin. I can give many examples to justify my claim." He said that the two parties have lost the trust of the people of Odisha and the Congress has been fighting against both.

"Chella Kumar and state Congress president Niranjan Patnaik will visit the girl's family on Saturday," a senior leader said. The girl had gone missing on July 14 and her skeletal remains were found in the backyard of her house at Jadupur village of Nayagarh district on July 23. Over four months have passed since then, but no one was arrested till now.

The issue rocked the Assembly for several days and the state government has recently ordered a high court monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT). At a meeting with party MLAs and senior leaders, Kumar asked to work in tandem to defeat both the BJD and the BJP in the upcoming civic polls.