Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal Thursday held demonstrations in different parts of the state to protest the demand made by a union minister to shift the headquarters of the East Coast Railway from here to Andhra Pradesh. Carrying posters and banners and shouting slogans against the central government, the party activists and leaders took out rallies and held silent demonstrations near different railway stations.
In state capital Bhubaneswar, hundreds of party members marched in a procession and assembled near the city's railway station, where they staged a sit-in demonstration for over an hour. BJD legislator and protest leader Mitu Badajeja said that the demand made by (Union Minister of Tribal Affairs) V.K. Chandra Deo is absurd and anti-Odisha. They will not tolerate it and The BJD will also stage similar demonstrations in front of all railway stations in the state Friday and Saturday.
Earlier, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs V.K. Chandra Deo suggested the shifting of the headquarters of East Coast Railway from Bhubaneswar to Vishakhapatnam, as the latter was at the centre of the eastern coast and he also submitted a proposal to the A.K. Antony-headed high power committee looking into the demand for a zonal headquarters for Indian Railways. The Odisha units of the Congress party and Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) also expressed their opposition to Deo's proposal.
