Congress blames intelligence for hostage crisis

Bhubaneswar, Mar 20: The Italian hostage crisis issue figured in Odisha Assembly for the second day on Tuesday with Opposition Congress alleging failure of intelligence system as the incident came to light through media four days after the foreigners were abducted by Maoists.

Though the two Italians were abducted by Maoists on Mar 14, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told the Assembly on Monday that the government came to know about the incident from media only on Mar 17, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh said in the house.

It showed the whole intelligence system of the state police had failed to discharge its duty as such a serious matter came to the notice of the government through media, he said.

Singh said the deadline set by the abductors was approaching and the government must spell out what steps it was taking to ensure safe release of the hostages.

Another matter of worry was that one negotiator had expressed his reluctance to be part of the discussion to end the hostage crisis, he said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty said no detailed discussion on the hostage crisis was necessary as the chief minister would inform the house regularly on its developments.

PTI