BJP demands transfer of officials after glitch during President visit in Odisha

BARIPADA: The district unit of BJP on Sunday demanded the transfer of Mayurbhanj collector Vineet Bhardwaj, SP Rishikesh D Khilari and vice-chancellor of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanjadeo (MSCB) University Santosh Kumar Tripathy holding them responsible for the mismanagement during the visit of President Droupadi Murmu for the 12th convocation ceremony on Saturday.

Speaking to mediapersons, Mayurbhanj district unit president Kandra Soren said poor coordination between the district administration, police and university authorities led to the embarrassing situation when the President was seen addressing a dark auditorium due to a sudden power outage for over eight minutes. “I do not understand who actually took charge of the convocation ceremony - district administration, police or the university authorities,” Soren wondered. The BJP demanded Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to apologise for the embarrassing situation. MLA Budhan Murmu and state working committee member Krushnachandra Mohapatra were present.