Bhubaneswar: Allegations of cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election have sparked intense political debate in Odisha, with BJD MLA Souvic Biswal admitting to voting against the party line.
Biswal said he voted for the candidate he believed had the blessings of Biju Patnaik. He also expressed anger over the treatment his father received from the party, questioning why his father was not expelled when he had been earlier.
He said the controversy surrounding the trust that has now surfaced was first raised by his father, adding that his father had faced injustice and that he had taken “revenge” for it. Biswal also questioned who carried out the alleged “midnight operation” and who was blamed for it.
He further asked who broke the window of Naveen Patnaik’s car, who was made the scapegoat, and who was responsible in the chit fund scam but shifted the blame onto others.
Biswal said his father had dedicated 29 years of his life to the Biju Janata Dal and questioned what he had received in return.
Meanwhile, Bhakta Charan Das, president of the Odisha unit of the Indian National Congress, alleged that three party MLAs had cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha election. He named Ramesh Jena, Sophia Firdous and Dasharathi Gamango as the legislators involved.
Das said the matter had been conveyed to the All India Congress Committee over the phone. He added that he had not expected Jena to cross-vote and said Congress legislators would no longer sit with the three MLAs in the state Assembly following the development.
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