BJD-Congress nexus in Odisha: Pradeep Purohit

A senior BJP leader today alleged that the Congress shielded the Naveen Patnaik government during the just-concluded session of the Odisha Assembly as part of an alleged nexus with the ruling BJD.
Senior BJP leader and party MLA Pradeep Purohit told reporters here that because of the alleged Biju Janata Dal-Congress nexus, the issue of flyover collapse near Bomikhal here on September 10 could not be discussed on the last day of the monsoon session of the assembly yesterday.
Alleging that there is a nexus between Congress and BJD since 2009, he claimed that Congress deliberately raised the issue of fuel price hike in the House to save Naveen Patnaik regime as a discussion on the flyover collapse, which left a man dead and 11 injured, would have put the BJD government in an embarrassing position.

Though the House was slated to discuss an adjournment motion on the flyover collapse, Congress members suddenly created uproar over the oil price hike issue as part of a "deal with the ruling BJD", Purohit alleged and said due to pandemonium the House was adjourned till 3 pm.
The BJP leader claimed that a discussion on the flyover collapse issue would have brought to the fore alleged irregularities in the Works department, of which the chief minister is in charge.
However, BJD spokesperson Amar Sathpathy dismissed the allegations as baseless and said the state government has taken all necessary steps after the flyover collapse incident.

Congress chief whip in the assembly, Tara Prasad Bahinipati rejected the charge and instead alleged that there is a secret understanding between BJD and BJP.