Row over BJD’s voting for Harivansh in Rajya Sabha

Bhubaneswar: After the BJP’s support to NDA-backed JD (U) candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh helped the MP comfortably win the Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson’s post; Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) chief Niranjan Patnaik on Saturday slammed both the parties saying they had betrayed their cadres.

The OPCC chief said the “equidistant” policy of the BJD with BJP had now turned into an “internal understanding” and an “informal alliance” seemed imminent between the two parties.

“The games of BJD and BJP have been totally exposed. Sad that BJD has chosen to ally with BJP, a party which has betrayed Odisha on every front, be it Mahanadi, land encroachment, duping people of Rourkela or insulting Muktikanta Biswal.”

Mr Patnaik went on to say that the BJP had not only been unfaithful to the people of Odisha but also betrayed its own party members, thereby calling Mission 120 as Mission 420 (an indirect reference to cheating).

“For the BJP, it hasn’t just betrayed the people of Odisha, but also its own cadres. BJP’s Mission 120 has turned into Mission 420 for the people of Odisha and BJP members,’ he tweeted.

In a series of tweets on Friday, he had also urged Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram and former Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda to join the Congress if they want to serve the people justifying that his party is the only Opposition in Odisha.