Bhubaneswar, Nov 15 (PTI) The Congress party on Monday said it will oppose the presence of Minister D S Mishra, who has been accused of being linked to the prime accused in the murder of a woman teacher, in the Odisha Assembly which is scheduled to commence its winter session from December 1.

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Senior Congress leader S S Saluja who represents Kantabanji segment in the Assembly said the grand old party will urge Speaker S N Patro and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to disallow the entry of the minister, against whom there are “serious allegations”, into the House.

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The deceased teacher was a native of Kantabanji assembly segment in Bolangir district.

However, ruling BJD MLA Aswini Patra said unless the allegations against the minister are proven, no one has the right to disallow an elected member from entering the Assembly in a democratic setup.

“The victim's parents have also levelled allegations against Mishra. If such a person enters the Assembly, the dignity of the House will be affected,” Congress leader Saluja said.

Echoing Saluja's view, former minister and MLA from Jatani, Suresh Routray, said Congress members will protest the presence of the “tainted” minister in the House.

“As there are allegations against the minister, he should not enter the Assembly and cause harm to the dignity of the august House,” Routray said.

BJP MLA Kusum Tete said the minister should keep himself away from the Assembly because of the ongoing controversy.

The BJD MLA said only an inquiry will be able to ascertain the minister's involvement in the case.

Mishra, who has been in the eye of the storm since the prime accused in the teacher's murder case fled from the police custody on October 17 night, remained confined to his residence for three weeks.

Later, he attended official programmes and even toured his Junagarh constituency in Kalahandi district even as the opposition members showed black flags to him.

The minister in his clarification had said that he would take ‘sanyas' from politics if allegations against him are proven.

Mishra also shared the dais with the chief minister at a function at Bhawanipatna on November 8.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari Monday attended a meeting in which which the chief minister participated virtually.

On an earlier occasion, Pujari had boycotted the chief minister's meeting at Bijepur in Bargarh district, accusing the state government of shielding the minister in the teacher murder case.

“I attended the meeting on Monday as the CM was not present at the dais here. He attended the meeting virtually,” Puajri said.

He clarified that the meeting was not only about the distribution of BSKY smart health cards but was also about the inauguration of projects and schemes proposed along with the settlement of families displaced by the Hirakud dam project, issues which he had been raising in Parliament.

“My presence at the event during the foundation stone laying ceremony was essential,” he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)