Sexual favour slur against Odisha MLA: BJD observes Talcher bandh

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Talcher, Jul 23:

Protesting the allegation levelled against Biju Janata Dal Talcher MLA Braja Pradhan for seeking sexual favours from a girl in exchange of employment for her father, the party today observed a 12-hour bandh in the coal city of Odisha.

While shops and business establishments remained closed, vehicular movement was affected as BJD members staged road blockade at several junctions of the city.

Notably, it was yesterday alleged that Pradhan had asked a teenage college girl via WhatsApp to spend a night with him in return of which he would have provided a job to the latter’s father.

While the MLA denied the incident and the authenticity of the WhatsApp chat could not be independently verified by us, posters of the online chat were pasted across Talcher.

According to the contents of the posters, the girl – a 19 years old college student – had approached the MLA seeking an employment opportunity for her father. The MLA, however, asked the girl to spend a night with him in exchange of getting a job for her father.