Timely action by a security guard prevented a huge embarrassment for Odisha chief-minister Naveen Patnaik by ‘catching’ a slipper which was hurled at Odisha chief-minister Biju Patnaik while he was addressing an election meeting ahead of the highly-pitched Bijepur Assembly by-poll to be held on Saturday (24th February).

Odisha’s longest-serving chief-minister Biju Patnaik, also the president of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), is the star-campaigner of his party at the by-poll which has hogged national limelight in recent days. The slipper-throwing incident took place during the third of a sequence of rallies addressed by him at Kumbhari in Barpalli.

The first slipper hit a security guard standing next to the chief-minister and the guard was alert enough to ‘catch’ and ‘ward it off’ so that the chief-minister was not hit. The youth who hurled the slippers was identified as Karthik Meher; a BJP flag and an I-card recovered from his person. The youth reportedly vented his frustration as her realized that the BJP would find it tough to upset the ruling BJD in Bijepur.

The BJP, in the meantime, has vehemently denied that the arrested person was a party cadre. It also condemned the false campaign, which it said was being orchestrated by the BJD, to blame it before a thorough investigation is held on the incident.