“I felt terrible pain. I would have demonstrated my skills to him if it weren’t for my condition. Due to an international event taking place in my state and city, I kept quiet “Says Suresh Routray.
Veteran Congress MLA Suresh Routray claimed that when he went to the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar to see the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup opening ceremony, security officers heckled him.
Six-term lawmaker Routray attributed the insult directed at him to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Even though he displayed a pass that had been given to him since he is the head of the Khurda district athletic association, he claimed that a foreign security guard had misbehaved with him.
“The state of Odisha gave me a pass. In addition to misbehaving, the security guy shoved me while holding my arm close to the gate, he told reporters on Tuesday.
“I felt a lot of pain. I would have demonstrated my skills to him if it weren’t for my condition. An international event was taking place in my state and my city, so I refrained from making any disturbance, Routray stated.
He claimed that after being seen by several local police officers, they asked him to the stadium, but he declined because the experience had left him feeling too hurt and he had to go home.
“You entered the stadium like a king while we were granted an ordinary pass,” Rutray yelled at the chief minister. Although Routray, 77, tries to promote all sports, he noted that football was his favourite sport to play when he was younger.
The state government has apologised to Routray for the incident, according to Sports and Youth Services Secretary R Veenel Krishna.
“Entry is only permitted with tickets, and FIFA has severe security regulations. We honour the honourable MLA’s passion for sports. We apologised for the situation and spoke with him about it. On October 17, we formally invited him to attend the game as our guest of honour, and he accepted,” Krishna stated.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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