Congress seeks Naveen Patnaiks head

BHUBANESWAR: Alleging that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was fully involved in the purchase of Opposition MLAs during the 2010 Rajya Sabha election, the OPCC on Sunday demanded his immediate resignation and  investigation. Addressing mediapersons here, former minister and senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra demanded a CBI probe as no agency under the State Government could inquire into the matter independently because of the Chief Minister’s involvement. The former minister said BJD had fielded candidates for all the three vacant seats even though it did not have the required number of MLAs. At that time, the Chief Minister, who is also the BJD president, had announced that all the three candidates would win. Mishra alleged that horse-trading of Opposition MLAs was pre-planned and the BJD adopted it to win all the three seats with the involvement of the Chief Minister. Stating that the audio tape on the horse-trading was a direct evidence against the BJD and Naveen, the former minister said the local police or the Vigilance should have registered FIR in the case suo motu and investigated. But this has not been done as the Chief Minister is involved, he said. The former minister said Naveen was claiming to be honest and transparent during the last 11 years despite the High Court judgment on the State Government’s proposal to hand over Khandadhar iron ore mines to Posco, the Lokpal’s report on land acquisition for the controversial Vedanta University project and Supreme Court directives on many issues from time to time.  But the Chief Minister has been exposed this time as there is enough evidence to nail two ministers and the Chief Minister. CONG PANEL: Meanwhile, the OPCC has constituted a committee to probe the entire matter, including the invalid Congress vote in the Rajya Sabha poll. Mishra said the inquiry will be completed soon and action initiated against the MLAs, if found guilty. Two Congress MLAs - Shivaji Majhi and Gregory Minz - had abstained while the vote of another party MLA was declared invalid. The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in a resolution had debarred the two MLAs from attending any of its activities.  Naveen had on Saturday said the entire matter would be looked into. The two ministers of state, Pushpendra Singhdeo and Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, also denied any involvement in the episode.