Will Hikaka resign or wont he?

BHUBANESWAR: Even as Laxmipur MLA Jhina Hikaka keeps mum on the resignation issue keeping everyone guessing about his next course of action, several BJD leaders maintained that he should not be allowed to do so. Hikaka, who was released by the Maoists on Thursday after 34 days in captivity, said he will reach Bhubaneswar after two to three days. The MLA said he will meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other leaders of the party.He, however, refused to discuss anything about the happenings in the praja court or reports about giving an undertaking to resign as MLA and snap all ties with the BJD. “You will come to know about this in due course of time,” he told this paper.His party colleagues from Koraput district also do not want to discuss the matter. Former minister and Jeypore MLA Rabinarayan Nanda said Hikaka is not in a proper frame of mind to discuss all these things now.Hikaka’s colleague and Koraput MLA Raghuram Padal is also not forthcoming on the issue. Padal said Hikaka will be leaving for Bhubaneswar on Monday and take a decision after that.Several senior leaders, however, do not want Hikaka to resign from the membership of the Assembly on the diktat of the Maoists. Finance Minister and BJD vice-president Prafulla Chandra Ghadei said it will set a bad precedent if he resigns. This is something against the democratic process, he said. Former minister Damodar Rout said the BJD will never like Hikaka to resign. Rather Hikaka should work as a mediator between the tribals and the State Government to solve the problems faced by the tribals, he said.Maoists said Hikaka was released after he promised in the praja court to resign from the membership of the Assembly and snap all ties with the BJD. Naveen, who expressed happiness over the release of the MLA, has also not reacted on the issue.Opposition political parties, however, alleged that the Hikaka’s release from captivity and the ‘quit’ order given by Maoists have pointed towards Government losing control over the region. The State had to go for a bypoll after the sitting BJD MLA Jagabandhu Majhi was gunned down last year. If Hikaka resigns, the State will have to go for another bypoll by bowing to pressure from the Maoists, a senior Congress leader said.