Bhubaneswar: Local BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi today thanked those who had fixed posters of her going missing.
“What can be more heartening a thing for a people’s representative if people of her/his area remember her/him?” asked Sarangi at a press briefing held at the BJP headquarters here today.
A smiling Sarangi remarked, “Those friends who had fixed those posters are my well-wishers. I heartily thank them. I would request them from the core of my heart to fix such posters again in every nook and corner of Bhubaneswar in large numbers when I will be away for 30 days from March 8 to April 8 to attend the Parliament session”.
She said that this type of postering has helped her a lot.
The Bhubaneswar MP clarified that till February 13 she was attending the session of the Lok Sabha.
It is pertinent to mention here that posters captioned ‘nikhoj’ (meaning missing) in Odia with a picture of the MP questioning her whereabouts and silence over the non-withdrawal of proposed heritage bye-laws for Ekamra Kshetra framed by the National Monuments Authority (NMA) were found pasted in lanes and bylanes of Old Town area of the city on Thursday.
The posters further said that the proposed bye-laws were part of a well-designed conspiracy to destroy Odisha’s prominent heritage sites.
Reacting to the posters, Sarangi had then tweeted: ““Am amused that these posters have come up in Bhubaneswar at a time when the budget session of Parliament is on; it is my duty to be in the Lok Sabha now. Am glad Bhubaneswar is ‘missing’ me. It is a great feeling, indeed! As always, I will be among my people from 15th Feb onwards”.
The same day Laxmisagar police arrested two persons Dhaneswar Barik and Jyoti Ranjan Panda in connection with the affixing of posters.
Interestingly, arrestees were close associates of the Bhubaneswar MP.
While Barik is said to be the personal assistant (PA) of Sarangi, Panda is a close associate of hers.