Saturday, January 7 2006 10:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Berhampur (Orissa): The opposition Congress yesterday (Jan 06, 2006) demanded resignation of Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the wake of the police firing at Kalinganagar industrial complex in Jajpur district in which 12 tribals were killed.

"We are not satisfied with the transfer of the District Collector and Superintendent of Police (SP) and hike in the compensation to the family of the victims. The Chief Minister himself should resign", AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh said.

Terming it as one of the 'rare' incidents in the country after independence, Singh said the Chief Minister had no "moral right to continue in office".

Reiterating that the Congress would extend full support to the protest today, Singh said, "We will not remain silent and continue the stir demanding the Chief Minister's resignation".

Stating that the Kalinga Nagar incident was likely to dominate the three-day plenary session of the AICC to be held at Hyderabad from January 21 next, Singh said the Congress had taken it as a 'sensitive issue'.

Two Congress leaders who visited the site of the incident after being directed by AICC chief Sonia Gandhi had given their report to Singh and he would submit it to Gandhi after his return to Delhi, the senior Congress leader informed.

However, Singh avoided a question as to whether the party was demanding imposition of President's rule in the state in the wake of the incident.

The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said the firing could have been avoided by discussing the issue of rehabilitation with the people.