Unidentified miscreants hurled ink at Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Sarat Pattanayak at the Congress Bhawan on Friday while he was preparing to attend a protest rally against the NEET paper leak.

Pattanayak said: “Our leader Rahul Gandhi said “Daro Mat (Do not be afraid).” We planned to launch our protest to expose the NEET paper leak as per the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) direction. A few miscreants and goondas entered the Bhawan and threw the ink. We lodged a complaint with police. Police is investigating the matter.”

Though the Congress president said he will not be terrified by such attacks, insiders believe it is the work of a section of disgruntled party workers who were annoyed with Pattanayak’s style of functioning.

Pattanayak felt the attack was orchestrated by the BJP sympathizers and its workers, in order to thwart their plan to protest against the NEET paper leak. “I have been in this field for more than 40 years. I joined politics to serve the people. I am not perturbed. I have come from NSUI background. Earlier, eggs, chappals, and stones were hurled at me. I will not be terrified. We will continue to protest against the paper leak as lakhs of students have been badly affected by it,” said Pattanayak.

Pattanayak also said that few people were trying to weaken the state Congress, but they would not be successful in their nefarious designs.

The masked miscreants also splashed ink on the Congress Bhawan and reportedly raised slogans such as “Sarat Hatao (Oust Sarat) and Save Congress.”

Sources said many party workers had hoped that Pattanayak would immediately step down voluntarily after the party’s poor performance in the last election.