BHUBANESWAR: BJD MLA Debasish Samantray on Tuesday tendered apology for allegedly grabbing a relative of martyr Manoj Behera around his neck and dashing him on the ground when the martyr’s body was awaiting cremation at his native village in Cuttack district on Saturday.Manoj was one of the two CRPF personnel from Odisha who were among the 40 martyred in the terror attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.A video clip of the incident had gone viral in social media and had drawn sharp criticism from political rivals, the BJP and the Congress. The man who was shoved was identified as Chaitanya Behera, a cousin of Manoj’s father Jitendra.“There was indiscipline before guard of honour. I didn’t know that the man was a relative of the martyr. If I have hurt anyone’s sentiments, I tender my apology,” the Barabati-Cuttack MLA said.The apology, however, failed to end the row. “The MLA has insulated the martyr and has shown the true colour of BJD. He should sacked as an MLA and thrown out of the party by the BJD for his insensitive and inhuman behaviour,” said BJP leader Lekhashri Samanta Singhar. Congress spokesperson Satya Nayak echoed similar sentiments and said, the MLA should be asked to resign.Industrialist-politician Baijayant Panda tweeted “This is awful. This is not what BJD stood for when it was founded (& for more than a dozen yrs thereafter). It was bcz its culture was morphing into this that i spoke out, was ostracised, & quit. Glad i left, i cd'nt be part of something that openly humiliates martyrs' families.”

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