BJD’s walkout in House a ‘calculated’ bid by party?

Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal’s walkout in the Lok Sabha minutes before the debate on no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi-led government began in Lok Sabha on Friday was seen as a calculated bid by the regional party to send a message to voters that it continues to maintain its policy of equidistance from the Congress and BJP.

Though BJD legislator Bhartruhari Mahtab said his party walked out of the House as the UPA and NDA governments had not done much for Odisha, sources said the party did not participate in the debate as support and opposition to the motion would have sent some wrong message to its voters back in Odisha.

In social media platforms, people strongly reacted to the BJD’s walked out and said the party deliberately took the move to favour the BJP as it fears more punitive action from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the multi-crore chit fund scam.

Odisha Pradesh Congress president Niranjan Patnaik criticised the BJD for its action.

“A host of BJD leaders have already been arrested for their alleged involvement in chit fund scams and a few others are under the CBI scanner. So, it is understandable why the BJD walked out. It walked out only to help the BJP,” Mr Patnaik said.