Bhubaneswar, Jan. 30: Two younger brothers of former chief minister and veteran Congress leader Hemananda Biswal today joined the BJD in the presence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
"We have lost our faith in the Congress party," said Bihari, while the other brother, Khirod, said their relations with Hemananda continued to remain "cordial".
Hemananda, a veteran tribal leader, was chief minister of the state in 1989 and 1999. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Sundargarh in 2009 but had lost the seat in the 2014 elections. Last year, he had met the Congress high command and expressed his dissatisfaction over the party's state of affairs in Odisha.
Reacting to the development, Hemananda said: "It is their personal decision."
Senior Congress leaders asserted that the exit of the Biswal brothers would have no impact on the party's prospects in the forthcoming panchayat elections.
Mahanadi row
Ahead of the polls, the three major parties in the fray - the BJD, the BJP and the Congress - are trying their best to derive political mileage from the issue.
Reacting to Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan's statement that Naveen Patnaik was playing politics over the issue, the BJD today alleged that Pradhan was trying to defend the interests of Chhattisgarh.
"He is behaving like the spokesman for Chhattisgarh. Perhaps because he is trying to get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Chhattisgarh," said BJD vice-president Surya Narayan Patro.
The term of Pradhan, who represents Bihar in the Upper House, will end in 2018.
"If he has the guts, Pradhan should advise Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh to first stop the construction of barrages in the upstream of Mahanadi and then come to Odisha for panchayat poll campaign," said Patro.The war of words began after Naveen rejected a negotiations committee, set up by the Union government, to resolve the dispute. The chief minister has reiterated the state's demand for forming a river dispute tribunal.
BJD leaders are of the view that the constitution of the negotiations committee was intended to favour Chhattisgarh and sabotage the interests of Odisha.
The state unit of the Congress today dashed off a letter urging the Prime Minister to intervene within seven days.
"The negotiations committee was a political negotiation between the BJP and the BJD," said state Congress chief Prasad Harichandan.
Compensation
The State Election Commission today announced Rs 20 lakh compensation for death of any person on poll duty and Rs 1 lakh for permanent disability caused during the polling process. The announcement assumes significance in view of the threat by Maoists to stop the election process in various areas.
MLA wife case
In a latest twist to the controversy surrounding withdrawal of nomination papers of two candidates who were locked in a contest with the wife of Kendrapara MLA Kishore Tarai, one of the candidates said she hadwithdrawn her candidature voluntarily.
Withdrawal of opponents had resulted in the MLA's wife being declared elected unopposed from the Penthapal gram panchayat as a samiti member. Following a hue and cry, the State Election Commission had transferred the local block development officer, who was the election official.
After remaining silent for nearly a week, Daitary Sethy, the husband of Gayatri Sethy, today submitted a petition to the commission saying his wife had withdrawn her papers voluntarily and she had levelled the allegations of forgery at the behest of Congress leaders.
He claimed his wife was sick and could not come in person to the sub-collector today. "I had accompanied Gayatri when she went to the Pattamundai block development officer-cum-election officer's office to withdraw the nomination papers. But, the Congress leaders persuaded us to stage the nomination-withdrawal drama. We fell into their trap," Daitary told The Telegraph.
Kendrapara collector Muralidar Mallick said: "We will rely on the statement of the candidate concerned."
