A day before BJP president Amit Shah is scheduled to address a public meeting here, the State unit of the BJP on Thursday cried foul when the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) removed party flags from across the city.
The incident took place at Power House Square when the BJP cadres found the BMC workers taking away party flags from the median and traffic junctions. Taking strong exceptions to the move, party workers immediately blocked the road as a result of which vehicular movement came to a grinding halt.
“The BJD is trying to scuttle the public meeting to be addressed by BJP president Amit Shah. The party feels insecure with the kind of public response being received for Mr. Shah’s meeting here,” said State BJP president Basant Panda.
When the BJP workers’ protest continued to disrupt traffic movement, the city police intervened and assured that flags would not be removed.
When asked about the decision to remove flags, BMC Commissioner Kishan Kumar said no permission was sought for display of flags in the city. “Under new hoarding policy, display of party flags is also being treated as advertisement. In the past, flags of other parties have also been removed on the same ground,” said Mr. Kumar.
Meanwhile, final touches were being given to preparation for the mega public meeting scheduled to be held near Baramunda Bus Terminal. The party is expecting over 1 lakh turning up for the event.
