BIJEPUR: A youth hurled shoe at chief minister Naveen Patnaik just when he was preparing to address an election rally at Kumbhari village in Bijepur assembly segment which is going to bypoll on Tuesday. The footwear narrowly missed him.After addressing a public meeting at Barpali, Naveen reached Kumbhari, around six km away, on a roadshow where he was scheduled to address the meeting. After waving at the public, he was preparing to speak when the incident happened.BJD MLA Debesh Acharya said the youth was a BJP worker from outside Bijepur. “The BJP is adopting such tactic fearing defeat in the by-poll,” said Acharya who represents the adjacent Bargarh assembly segment BJP state president distanced himself away from the incident. “It’s an unfortunate incident. Whoever has done is condemnable. It reflects people’s growing anger against Naveen,” he said. TOI could not independently verify identity of the youth till filing of this report.Notably, a woman had hurled eggs at Naveen in a public appearance in Balasore district on January 31. Police had initially booked her for murder but the CM later directed to drop all charges against the woman.Naveen began his two-day campaign for the bypoll on Tuesday. He is scheduled to have a night halt at Bargarh and address several election rallies in various parts of the constituency for the two days. The bypoll was necessary after the death of sitting Congress MLA Subal Sahu who had won the past three elections in a row.

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