Odisha Cong slams BJD over Harivansh vote

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Thursday strongly reacted to the BJD support to the NDA’s Rajya Sabha deputy chairman candidate Harivansh and said the move exposed the tacit understanding between the BJP and BJD. “The BJD has been giving an impression for the past few years that it is a strong critic and opponent of the BJP for the latter’s antipathy attitude towards Odisha. After today’s support to the NDA’s Rajya Sabha deputy chairman candidate Harivansh, the party’s secret honeymoon now stands exposed,” said senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Ranjib Biswal. OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik went a step further and said the BJD supported the National Democratic Alliance candidate for the Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson’s post in fear of a CBI inquiry into the chit fund scam. The party also said that the move added credence to the ongoing rumour of seat sharing discussions between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the BJD.