BJD MLA's birthday celebrated in Jajpur school, video goes viral

Brajagiri Project High School under Jajpur’s Dharmashala block saw a rather unprecedented situation when the school authorities and students celebrated Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA, Pranab Balabantaray’s birthday on campus.

The purported video of the celebration which shows cake cutting and singing of birthday carol has gone viral on social media platforms which attracted criticism from intellectuals as well.

As per reports, while there was a holiday on Sunday, the BJD unit of Jajpur organised the birthday celebration which was joined by teachers and students of the school.

“We will have to verify whether something like that has happened. And if at all it happened then we will have to see if that had taken place inside the school and in what circumstances,” said Dharmashala BEO, Nikunja Mohanty.

“We do not have provision to celebrate birthday of politicians. But if something like that actually happened, then we will decide the future course of action after verifying the facts,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that the byelection to the Zilla Parishad Zone-15 in the district is scheduled to be held on August 9. The seat has been lying vacant after the untimely death of BJD ZP member Bhagyadhara Sethi. While some objected to the birthday celebration on moral grounds, some others criticised it as a violation of the election code of conduct with the bypoll scheduled for August 9.