Patnaik's women empowerment claim hollow, false : BJP

Demanding explanation from Naveen Patnaik for shielding BJD leaders accused of harassing women, she asked, Why is the chief minister silent in all these cases Patnaik, congratulating the 26-year-old BJD woman candidate after her win in Jharsuguda by-poll last week said Girls are the pride of Odisha.Beheras daughter-in-law Ronali 31 in her complaint to the police against Behera and his family members accused them of torturing her mentally and physically for a dowry of Rs 40 lakh.


PTI | Bhubaneswar | Updated: 17-05-2023 20:01 IST | Created: 17-05-2023 20:01 IST
Patnaik's women empowerment claim hollow, false : BJP
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Opposition BJP in Odisha Wednesday termed as ''hollow'' and ''false'' Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's claim that the state government is working for empowerment of women. The criticism by the BJP came after a number of ruling party leaders were embroiled in cases of alleged sexual exploitation, domestic violence and torture for dowry.

BJD responded by rejecting outright the allegations levelled by the saffron party.

BJP Mahila Morcha president Smruti Pattnaik criticising the ruling BJD and the state government, said the daughters-in-law of BJD MLA from Kendrapara Sashi Bhushan Behera and former MP A U Singhdeo have lodged complaint against their in-laws and husbands accusing them of torturing them for dowry.

Another BJD MLA Bijay Shankar Das has been accused of sexual exploitation by a woman friend, she said.

"These are just few cases which show the real character of the ruling party and its leaders. All these show that BJD's claims about working for women empowerment are hollow and false,'' she said.

The regional party is full of leaders having records of harassing women, Pattnaik added. Demanding explanation from Naveen Patnaik for shielding BJD leaders accused of harassing women, she asked, "Why is the chief minister silent in all these cases?" Patnaik, congratulating the 26-year-old BJD woman candidate after her win in Jharsuguda by-poll last week said ''Girls are the pride of Odisha''.

Behera's daughter-in-law Ronali (31) in her complaint to the police against Behera and his family members accused them of torturing her mentally and physically for a dowry of Rs 40 lakh. Ronali is married to the MLA's son Satyaprakash since March 2021.

The BJD lawmaker rejected the allegation and claimed that he did not seek or take any dowry from his daughter-in-law before the wedding.

"As per custom, I had allowed my daughter-in-law's family to give just a bed sheet. Nothing more than that," he told reporters here.

Singh Deo's daughter-in-law Adrija Manjari Singh, the grand daughter of former prime minister V P Singh, has lodged complaints of domestic violence and dowry torture against her husband Arkesh Narayan Singh Deo and her in-laws.

Arkesh had unsuccessfully contested from Bolangir assembly segment on a BJD ticket.

BJP state general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan alleged that many BJD leaders and workers are involved in crimes against women other than dowry torture and domestic violence cases.

Serious allegations had been made against BJD leaders like Dibya Shankar Mishra, Shrikant Sahu and Samir Ranjan Dash, he said.

Dibya Shankar Mishra had been embroiled in the kidnap and murder of a woman teacher in Kalahandi.

Sahu was allegedly involved in the sexual harassment of a woman BJD leader and Dash was embroiled in the alleged suicide of a zilla parishad member of Puri. Both leaders were removed from the ministry by the chief minister last week.

Harichandan said people of Odisha know ''very well'' that BJD is against women and alleged that women members of self help groups SHGs are being exploited by BJD with false promises.

BJD spokesperson Ipsita Sahu addressing a press conference rejected the BJP Mahila Morcha leader's allegations and sought to know why she remained silent when women wrestlers were staging dharna against a leader of the saffron party in the sexual exploitation case.

BJP leaders have insulted two BJP women candidates who won the by-polls in Padampaur and Jharsuguda seats , Barsha Singh Bariha and Dipali Das respectively, she claimed.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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