Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Srikant Jena on Monday accused Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of having a clandestine link with the BJP at the Centre.
In a statement to the media here, Jena alleged that the CBI is deliberately delaying the probe into the mega chit fund scam in the State due to a tacit understanding between the BJP and the BJD.
“This could be due to the fact that since several ruling BJD leaders are involved in the mega scam, the BJD top brass, in a desperate bid to save their skin, have entered into a secret tie-up with the BJP,” he said.
Also demanding a CBI probe into the mega mining scam in the State, Jena said, “Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is trying his best to avoid a CBI probe into the mega mining scam in the State and has adopted various methods like giving support to the NDA Government in the Rajya Sabha to win over the BJP at the Centre.” He said that the BJD was doing so after witnessing the plight of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
Jena further said that soon after Narendra Modi assumed the office of the Prime Minister, Naveenbabu along with all his MPs met him in New Delhi in a bid to persuade the BJP at the Centre not to order a CBI probe into the `5 lakh crore mining scam.
Jena charged that the BJP borrowed former BJD MP Rudra Madhab Ray to fielding as its nominee for the October 15 bypoll in Kandhamal lok Sabha seat as per a secret understanding with the ruling BJD.
Stating that the Congress-led UPA Government has done a lot for the development of tribal dominated areas like Boudh and Kandhamal districts, Jena said, “The UPA Government has allotted `500 crore for construction of 400 km roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in Boudh and Kandhamal while 1.5 lakh BPl families were provided with electricity under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Bidyut Karan Yojana in which the State Government had no role to play.”
He also urged the people of the Kandhamal lok Sabha constituency to bless son of the soil and Congress nominee Abhimanyu Behera in the ensuing by-election.