Pradeep Kumar Majhi, Congress MP

Bhubaneswar, June 18: The ongoing horse-trading controversy today took a new twist with outgoing state Youth Congress president and Lok Sabha member from Nabarangpur Pradeep Kumar Majhi offering to be a witness in the case.

The alleged incident of horse trading had taken place during the last Rajya Sabha elections held on June 17, 2010.

Speaking to The Telegraph over phone, Majhi said: “I want to be a party to the issue. If the state home department seeks my help in unravelling the mystery behind the horse-trading controversy, I will certainly extend my cooperation.”

Facing flak from Opposition parties for not ordering an inquiry into the incident, chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced that the audio-cassette controversy pertaining to the Rajya Sabha elections in 2010 would be examined by the home department.

However, the statement did not indicate which agency would conduct an inquiry into the episode. Police, vigilance and the crime branch functions under the home department.

Two audio-cassettes have surfaced in the market allegedly revealing that horse trading had taken place during the Rajya Sabha election. One of the audio tapes purportedly has the voice of labour minister Pushpendra Singh Deo trying to negotiate with a middleman to buy over Congress MLA Sibaji Majhi. The names of energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra have also been mentioned in the tape. A private TV channel recently aired the tape.

The young MP, Majhi, said he had knowledge about the horse-trading incident six months before the audio tape surfaced. He said: “Six people from Kalahandi had contacted me and told me about the entire episode. They had recorded the conversation of labour minister Pushpendra Singh Deo who had tried to gain over the Congress MLA from Lanjigarh Sibaji Majhi at the behest of the energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak.” Lanjigarh constituency comes under Kalahandi district.

Being asked why the people from Kalahandi contacted him, Majhi said that the six people, who facilitated the meeting of Majhi and the ministers, wanted to expose the horse trading issue as they had not got their share of booty.”

Majhi said he knew all the people who had contacted him. “At that time, they also wanted to sell me the audio tape. In order to sell the audio tape, they asked for Rs 1 crore from me. I expressed my inability to buy the audio tape by giving such a huge amount of money.”

He also said that he had also tried to strike a deal to buy the audio tape from the middle men. “As they insisted to give at least Rs 14 lakh for the tape, I could not buy that. I had, however, advised to give it to a media house,” he added.

Majhi also said he had discussed the matter with senior Congress leader and working president of the Pradesh Congress committee (PCC) Chanda Sekhar Sahu. “I had even hinted about the issue to Kalahandi MP Bhakta Charan Das,” he said.

The MP also hinted that Sibaji Majhi had allegedly taken nearly Rs 2 crore to abstain from voting during the Rajya Sabha elections.