Confusion over names: CM clears the air

BHUBANESWAR: Confusion over the demands made by the Odisha State Organising Committee of the CPI (Maoist) for the release of Italian national Paolo Bosusco may have delayed the entire process. In his statement in the Assembly on Saturday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the interlocutors, appointed by the CPI (Maoist), BD Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty, sought the release of six persons __ Arati Majhi, Manmohan Pradhan, Suka Nachika, Chakra Tadingi, Bijay Tadingi and Subhashree Das.   The Chief Minister said out of the six, the State Government announced that it would facilitate the release of five persons.  The five persons are Arati Majhi, Suka Nachika, Chakra Tadingi, Bijay Tadingi and Subhashree Das. But when Naveen had announced the swap deal for the release of Bosusco in the Assembly on April 4, he had said four persons will be released. The next day Naveen had named the four persons as Arati Majhi, Suka Nachika, Chakra Tadingi and Subhashree Das.   The name of Bijay Tadingi was in the other list announced for the release of abducted MLA Jhina Hikaka.  In his audio tape, released on April 2, Sabyasachi Panda had demanded the release of seven persons __ Kamala Kanta Sethi, Arati Majhi, Sujata, Subhashree Das, Gananath Patro, Suka Nachika and Sudarshan Mandal.    The Chief Minister on Saturday said, “In view of the State Government’s clarification, I again appeal to the Odisha State Organising Committee of the CPI (Maoist), headed by Sabyasachi Panda, to release Bosusco immediately and unharmed.”     In an audio tape released on Friday, Panda said of the four names announced by the Chief Minister, only three __ Arati Majhi, Suka Nachika and Subhashree Das __ were in the original list placed by the Maoists through the mediators. The fourth name __ Chakra Tadingi __ did not figure in the list which the ultra outfit claimed showed how the Government has been taking decisions unilaterally.When asked about the confusion, Dandapani said there are more than one accused in a single case which created the confusion.