Senior BJP leader Damodar Rout quits party
Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader Damodar Rout resigned from the primary membership of the saffron party on Wednesday, alleging that he was not being involved in party activities ahead of the Bijepur Assembly by-poll in Odisha on October 21.
Rout, who had joined the BJP in March after being dismissed from the ruling BJD, sent his resignation letter to BJP state president B K Panda.
"I feel that the party does not require my involvement in its political programmes and policy-making process after the general elections. This has hurt me," Rout said in the letter.
He was being forced to retire from active politics for not being relevant in the party, the letter read.
Rout, who was a member of the Odisha Assembly for 35 years and a cabinet minister for seven times, had lost the 2019 polls from Balikuda-Ersama Assembly constituency. For the first time, he had contested the election on a BJP ticket.
Rout was the second leader after former MLA Ashok Kumar Panigrahi to quit the saffron party ahead of the Bijepur by-poll.
The former MLA from Paradip mentioned in the letter that he was expelled from the BJD in September 2018 for raising the issue of corruption against the then government.
"The BJP leaders inducted me into the party while I was busy campaigning against corruption in the system. I joined the BJP in New Delhi in the presence of its president.
I was made the partys campaign committee convener before the elections, Rout said.
Pointing out that his name did not figure among the 40 star campaigners for the Bijepur by-poll, Rout said, he was "disgusted" over the BJP state leadership not utilising his vast experience, Rout said.
The veteran leader said he has decided to work for the people on the ideology of the late Biju Patnaik. Therefore, he would prefer to resign from the primary membership of the BJP, Rout said.
"I have no animosity against the party and its leadership," Rout said.
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2 children killed in bomb attack in Manipur
Imphal (PTI): Two children were killed and their mother was injured in a bomb attack in Manipur's Bishnupur district on Tuesday, triggering protests by locals, police said.
The incident occurred at around 1 am when a bomb was hurled by suspected militants at a house in Moirang Tronglaobi area, killing a 5-year-old boy and a six-month-old girl, a senior officer said.
The two children and their mother were sleeping in their bedroom when the bomb exploded in the house, he said.
Locals staged a protest this morning and torched two oil tankers and a truck near a petrol pump in the area. They burnt tyres in front of the Moirang Police Station and destroyed a makeshift police outpost.
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Security forces have been deployed in the area to control the situation, the officer said.
Low-lying Moirang Tronglaobi is located close to hill areas of Churachandpur and witnessed consistent gun firing during the ethnic conflict between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups in 2023 and 2024.
An explosive device was also recovered in a nearby area of Tronglaobi on Tuesday, another senior officer said.
Local NPP MLA Th Shanti Singh condemned the "brutal attack at Tronglaobi, allegedly carried out by Kuki narco-terrorists".
"This heinous act is nothing less than an act of terrorism. Such inhuman acts have no place in our society and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms," he said.
"I offer my heartfelt tributes to the innocent lives lost - a 5-year-old boy and a 5-month-old baby girl - taken away in such a cold-blooded manner. My deepest condolences go out to the bereaved family during this unimaginable time of grief," the MLA said.
More than 260 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups since May 2023.
