Bhubaneswar: A day after Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) claimed that there are no discrepancies in party supremo Naveen Patnaik’s poll expenditure statement, the regional party today upped the ante against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and demanded resignation of Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram.

The BJD picked holes in Jual’s poll expenditure statement and called for his resignation on moral grounds. It alleged that the lone elected BJP MP from the state has misrepresented figures in the poll expenditure statement submitted to Election Commission.

“There is no typographical error. This is a serious illegality. This possibly calls for resignation of Jual Babu as he is morally bound. It is a compelling necessity for a very indepth inquiry by the election commission of India which we are now constrained to petition,” BJD MP and legal luminary Pinaki Mishra stated.

Worth mentioning, the BJD held the press conference for the second day today here to counter the saffron party’s allegations.

“These are completely false allegations. None of the figures match. We don’t indulge in personalised politics. Politics is always issue based. Politics is policy based. Despite several provocations, Naveen Babu never indulges in personal attacks. There is no unethical behaviour and no illegality. There are two typographical errors which is a very common case. The BJP are raking up false issue. They are stooping low to defame Naveen Babu,” Mishra stressed.

Reacting to this, BJP state vice president Samir Mohanty said: “They are evading the main question and instead brought false allegations against Jual Oram. Naveen Patnaik has taken the help of a person who had contested cases for fraudster Chandraswami and mining mafia which reflects his low mindset.”

Earlier in the day, BJP had approached the Governor seeking his intervention into the matter. The delegation led by Samir Mohanty, Prithviraj Harichandan, Lekhashree Samantasinghar and Golak Mohapatra submitted a memorandum to SC Jamir where it alleged that the government has misused the official machinery to defend a poll expenditure case.