Odisha: Congress MLA Sagaria threatens to quit over caste remarks

BHUBANESWAR: Congress MLA from Koraput, Krishna Chandra Sagaria on Saturday threatened to quit the party alleging casteist remark by his party’s Jeypore MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati.

“Bahinipati’s disrespect towards me has become a daily affair which is extremely painful to bear. I have sent a mail stating my concerns to the party’s national president Rahul Gandhi and top leadership including Odisha in-charge Jitendra Singh and OPCC chief Niranjan Patnaik,” said Sagaria. “But what can I do if the top leadership does not take action.

At most, I can only step down from the MLA post if that is necessary to keep my respect intact,” Sagaria added.Sagaria and his entire family, including three brothers, had embraced Buddhism at a special function held at Burja village under Laxmipur. Bahinipati, however, dismissed the charges and said Sagaria’s allegations against him should be investigated.

Meanwhile, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has set up a three-member committee to investigate Sagaria’s allegations against Bahinipati.