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Amid chaos over the suspension of 14 MLAs, Odisha Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das said that the clash that occurred between the party leaders and the police was "not a good thing". He said the party wanted to ensure there was no fight between police and Congress leaders.
The Congress leader said that 14 party MLAs were suspended from the legislative assembly after they had planned to gherao the assembly amid their protest on the issue of crime against women. "We are protesting the atrocities against women in the state. On March 27, we planned to gherao the Vidhan Sabha...14 Congress MLAs were suspended from the House, and there was a clash with the police, which was not a good thing. The police also got aggressive. Our people also got aggressive," Das told ANI. He said that police have to maintain law and order while they have to raise people's issues, and thus, there should be no clashes. "We wanted to ensure that there is no fight between policemen and Congress leaders because the police have to maintain law and order in the state and our job is to fight for people's issues. We can't waste our time and energy by clashing with the police," Das said. Earlier, the Odisha Congress staged a protest in the state's capital, Bhubaneswar, demanding the formation of a committee to investigate crimes against women in the last eight months of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state. Odisha Congress leader Ram Chandra Kadam called the state government 'blind, ' further stating that they imposed a lathi charge on the party workers because they were scared. Kadam also stated that Congress would not bow down and would keep fighting. "The state government is scared and is a blind government. Our mothers and sisters are not safe here. They are lathi-charging us because they are scared. Congress will not bow down and will keep fighting..." Kadam said speaking to ANI. The situation in Bhubaneswar escalated as the police resorted to a lathicharge to disperse Odisha Congress workers during their protest outside the Odisha Assembly against the suspension of 14 Congress MLAs from the House and crimes against women. Protests turned violent as police used water cannons against the protestors. In resistance, Congress workers pelted chairs at the police. On March 26, Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy suspended 12 Congress MLAs from the House for seven days on charges of "indiscipline, disrespecting the Chair, and violating rules" after they protested in the House's well on the same issue. (ANI)
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