High drama continues in dominate Orissa politics even as the ruling BJD, despite not having the required strength, walked away with three Rajya Sabha seats in the elections held on Thursday.
Two of the Congress MLAs, who mysteriously went missing a day before the Rajya Sabha polls, resurfaced on Sunday and came out with their own explanations denying the charge that they abstained from voting under influence from the BJD.
Rajgangpur legislator Gregory Minz said on Sunday that he could not participate in the elections as he was attending his ailing wife in a hospital Mumbai.
“I was attending my ailing wife in Mumbai. Despite all attempts, I count not reach Bhubaneswar during the polling hours. The charge that I was influenced to abstain is baseless,” Mr Minz said.
He added that he would continue in the Congress as a “disciplined” member.
Mr Shivaji Majhi, the Congress MLA from Lanjigarh, was traced at Apollo Hospital, here. The 35-year-old tribal legislator, as friends attending him said, was admitted to the hospital after he complained chest pain.
Security has been tightened in and around the hospital apprehending that the irate Congress members may manhandle him for his abstention. No outsider was allowed to meet Mr Majhi.
“If Mr Minz and Mr Majhi had genuine problems, they could have told us before the elections. Surprisingly, on the very day of elections, they switched off their mobiles and remained incommunicado. When the Congress leaders had no idea about their whereabouts, BJD people claimed that the missing MLAs would not turn up for voting. This raises suspicion about a possible collusion between the BJD poll managers and the two MLAs,” Congress leader Suresh Kumar Routray said.
Mr Routray urged the Congress high command Sonia Gandhi to take “exemplary” actions against the “errant” legislators.
Although Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee president K.P. Singhdeo submitted a report to the All-India Congress Committee about the rebel MLAs a day after the elections, the latter has not reacted to it.
The BJP, on the other hand, immediately suspended its Bonai legislator Bhimsen Choudhury for “deliberately abstaining” from voting.
Due to abstentions by the Congress and BJP legislators, the third candidate of the BJD, Mr Baishnab Parida, won the elections defeating the united Opposition candidate, Mr Tara Ranjan Patnaik.