With the Rajya Sabha polls just a few hours away, a Congress MLA on Wednesday mysteriously went missing even as his party alleged kidnapping by the ruling BJD to defeat the Opposition sponsored Independent candidate.
However, the BJD refuted the charges and said the Congress was making wild allegations to cover up its own “weakness” to keep its herd together.
According the FIR lodged in the capital police station, Congress MLA from Lanjigarh, Mr Shivaji Majhi, was abducted from near a petrol pump at Khurda on Wednesday morning. The legislator was his on his way Bhubaneswar to caste his vote for the party supported Independent candidate Tara Ranjan Patnaik.
“Our MLA was first intercepted by a three unidentified people and then taken away from the filling station in a white Bolero which proceeded towards Bhuba-neswar. After travelling a few kilometres, the abductors changed the vehicle and sped away in a new Bolero. The driver of the MLA’s vehicle chased the kidnappers up to Baramunda bus stand but could not catch them up as they disappeared in the crowded city streets,” the FIR filed by Congress working president Bhakta Charan Das said.
Mr Das alleged that the abduction exercise was a well-planned conspiracy by the BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik to ensure victory of his party’s third RS candidate Baishnab Parida. A copy of the FIR has been submitted to Speaker, director general of police and police commissioner, Bhubaneswar. In yet another development, the BJP formally announced its support for the Independent candidate Mr Patnaik.