BJD says it paid party leaders, not Sabyasachi Panda

The ruling BJD in Odisha today denied that Rs 45 lakh was transferred from the party's bank account to jailed Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda, as alleged by former union minister Braja Kishore Tripathy.
BJD general secretary and state Industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra said the money was actually transferred to the bank accounts of party leaders before the General Elections in 2014.
Three days back, Tripathy had alleged that Rs 45 lakh was transferred from the ruling Biju Janata Dal's account to Panda and said he has submitted documents in support of his allegation at the Prime Minister's Office.
Mishra along with state Health Minister Atanu S Nayak and other leaders held a press conference here and said the money was transferred to eight leaders' accounts for poll expenditure.

"Yes, money was transferred from BJD's bank account. This was given to eight BJD leaders' accounts through cheque and not to Sabyasachi Panda's account. The funds were transferred before the election for poll expenditure purpose," Mishra said.
On April 10, 2014, Rs 45 lakh was transferred through a cheque from BJD's bank account.
Giving details of the amount given to different leaders, Mishra said Rs 7.5 lakh each was paid to Dilip Tirkey and Balabhadra Majhi, two candidates contesting the Lok Sabha polls.
Similarly, Rs 5 lakh each was given to Shakuntala Laguri, Nagendra Pradhan, Motiram Nayak, Saiba Sushil Kumar Hansda, Prafulla Pangi and Rajiv Patra, he said.