ONI Bureau: Thousands of people gathered at Ganesh Bazar in Dhenkanal today to support former Lok Sabha MP Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda at his #Heijau tea gathering. It was so far the best Heijau event by Baijayant Panda in terms of crowd although Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Delhi and Hindol also responded well to his Heijau call on earlier occasions.
People cutting across party lines turned up at the event to greet Jay Panda. They included workers and leaders from Congress, BJP and BJD. Youth brigade and lawyers too marked their presence. Baijayant Panda was taken in a huge bike rally (of over 500 bikers) which provided a great sight to the passersby. Mr. Panda himself boarded an open jeep along with other eminent personalities from the area.
Former MLA Nabin Nanda and youth leader Sambit Nanda led from the front while Gondia Block Ex-Chairman Malay Singh and Kunilata Dehuri, Lokesh Jena from Angul, Senior Advocate Diptesh Prasad Pattnaik, Akhil Bihari Mohapatra from Ex Amry Association, Bar Association Members, Hindol King Shailendra Narayan Singhdeo, Panchayat Samiti Members Association District President Tankadhar Barik, Dhenkanal Municipality Vice Chairperson Sumitra Bhoi, Ex Sarapanch Sashanka sekhar Dhal, former MLA candidate Trinath Behra, Social Activist Ratikanta Garanayak, Councilor of Dhenkanal Municipality Subrat Nanda, Congress Councilor Gopal Sahoo, Hindol Block Ex Chairman Dillip Pattnaik, BJP leaders Niranjan Das and Animesh Chand, Advocate Deepak Pattnaik, Youth leader from Salipur Prafulla Swain, Student leader Er. Sushant Swain, Dhenkanal Ganesh Bazar Youth team and Hindol Juba Parishad team were present at the Heijau event.
Baijayant Panda mingled with the crowd as they took selfie with him and shook hands. The crowd chanted slogans such as ‘Baijayant Panda Zindabad’, ‘Baijayant Panda Next CM’, ‘WWW Dot Com, Baijayant Panda Welcome’, ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baijayant Panda Superstar’ etc. to extend their support to him. His close political aide Saleem Khan accompanied him throughout the event.
Later, Mr. Panda visited a ‘Bara Shop’ in the market and tasted the famous Dhenkanal Bara. He looked confident and cheerful and rubbished all allegations levelled against him, saying truth will prevail. “Efforts are being made to stop me and suppress my voice, but they can’t succeed. I will continue to meet the people and fight for their rights. I am overwhelmed with the love and affection showered on me by people of Dhenkanal,” he added.
While responding to a question on the possibility of floating a new party, Baijayant Panda said, there is enough time to think over it and he is yet to take a decision on his future course of action.
