Angul, July 23: The BJD today forced a dawn-to-dusk strike in Talcher, protesting against posters put up at some places in the town depicting local MLA Braj Kishore Pradhan chatting with a girl and using obscene language.

A senior police officer of the district said the strike had passed off peacefully, barring an incident near Talcher court, where the party workers ransacked a tea shop. He said four platoons of police were deployed to maintain law and order.

Economic activities, including coal supply and production, came to a halt, and the products could not be sent to either to Nalco or two NTPC plants. Vehicles stayed off the roads and all educational institutions and markets were closed. The BJD workers also blocked the national highway passing through Talcher.

The posters, downloaded from a social network site, were put up in the town yesterday. In it, Pradhan is shown making advances to the girl.

This angered the BJD workers, who stormed Talcher police station last night and lodged a complaint against a youth suspecting him to be behind the incident. The BJD's Talcher block unit president Niranjan Pradhan lodged the complaint.

"Some trouble-makers are trying to malign the MLA. He is innocent and a victim of conspiracy. We demand immediate action against the culprits," said Pradhan in his complaint.

Talcher police station inspector-in-charge K.C. Acharya said: "We registered the complaint last night. The matter is under investigation."

MLA Pradhan denied that he had ever chatted with the girl. "It is false and intended to tarnish my image. I will take legal action against the culprits whom we suspect to be behind the act," he said.