Caught on the wrong foot over his statement in the Parliament over the Srimandir Heritage Corridor Project, Puri BJD MP Pinaki Mishra on Friday tried to raise a finger of accusations at OTV.
"It seems the channel smacks less of journalistic and more of political disappointment," said Mishra while reacting to the allegations brought out against him by BJP's Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi over the construction works around the 12th-century Shrine in Puri.
Mishra dared, "I didn't lie in the Lok Sabha. If anyone has the guts, then inform the matter to the Speaker of the House."
Rejecting Mishra’s attributions out rightly, OTV reiterated that the channel follows the charter very diligently. “We have the responsibility of maintaining the highest standard of professionalism and ethics in journalism. We present every piece of news in a free, fair and unbiased manner. Thus, it is our responsibility to present the news considering different facets and even the public has the right to come across different angles of every news. Being one of the leading news channels in Odisha, we have been working with such ethics since several years."
"As per the charter, OTV had aired the statement made by MP Sarangi and had later streamed MP Mishra's response to it. We had also aired responses of several others on the channel. OTV hasn't intentionally targeted MP Mishra or anyone else and has never mentioned him as a 'liar' and hasn't aired any news that degrades Mishra's respect," the channel maintains.
Meanwhile, reacting to Mishra’s clarifications, BJP MLA Biranchi Tripathy said, "BJD MP Mishra has given false information by stating that only four toilets are being constructed. Such acts are condemnable and we are out of words to express. His statements are always double-standard. First, he needs to clarify if he has made such a statement in the Parliament as BJD's MP or as an advocate."
Congress MLA Suresh Routray said, "The 60-feet deep ditch should be immediately closed. Who had given permission for the excavation work? This must be inquired, if it was the Collector or the Chief Engineer or the Archaeological department which gave permission for the same. The archaeological department has clarified that they have not granted any permission. If so, how was it done? Without any further delay, the ditch should be immediately closed."