The Opposition Congress and BJP on Monday decided to raise the issue of 'foreign origin' of BJD candidate Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh, who hails from a royal family in Nepal, during campaigning for the bypoll for the Kandhamal lok Sabha seat.
Pratyusha is the widow of Hemendra Singh, whose death has necessitated the poll.
"Since the BJD candidate belongs to Nepal and does not know Odia then in which language would she communicate with the people there," asked senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra, adding that foreign origin is an issue and there is nothing wrong if the BJP highlights it in this election.
He said all the BJD leaders, who have camped in the Kandhamal lS constituency, are neck-deep in corruption and the people would reject them wholesale in the election.
The Congress too has decided to raise the issue. "We can call her a complete foreigner. She is not an Indian national by birth and is a completely new face for the voters as she resides at Nayagarh," said PCC president Jayadev Jena. On the other hand, the ruling BJD said the issue would have no impact on the voters as the party believes in development.
