Baijayant has cheated people of Kendrapada: BJD

Bhubaneswar: A day after a delegation of BJD moved the Odisha Chief Electoral Office (CEO) alleging poll code violation by BJP, its national vice-president Baijayant Panda and a private news channel, the ruling party today again met the CEO accusing the MP candidate of cheating the people Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency.

In a letter to the Odisha CEO, the BJD alleged that a criminal case was filed against Panda in March 2018 for filing a false affidavit in 2014 elections by suppressing role in and compensation from his family business.

“In the affidavit, Panda described him as a sitting MP. But he did not mention about his role as a vice-chairman of mining company IMFA,” the letter stated.

The party further alleged that while Panda, in his 2019 election affidavit, has stated that he was appointed as Vice-Chairman of IMFA for a period of 3 years from October 28, 2018 with monthly remuneration of Rs 17 lakh (over Rs 2 crore annually), the 2013-14 and 2014-15 annual reports of IMFA has mentioned him as VC of the company with an annual salary of Rs 1.4 crore.

This proves that Panda has deliberately suppressed his role in the company, the letter said.

“Panda has cheated the people of Kendrapada. The people in the district will now question him as to why he cheated them and their trust in 2014,” it added.