Congress targets ruling-BJD over Kendrapara paddy procurement scam

Bhubaneswar: The first day of second phase of the budget session of Odisha Assembly ended on a stormy note today with Opposition Congress targeting the ruling-BJD over the alleged involvement of its Kendrapara district president in the paddy procurement scam.

Soon after the Zero Hour began, Congress legislators targeted the treasury bench members over the alleged involvement of BJD's Kendrapara district president Dhruba Sahoo in the Marketing Federation Limited (Markfed) scam.

Even though the involvement of the BJD leader has been proved, no action has been taken so far against him, alleged Congress, adding that Sahoo acted as the middleman between the farmers and millers.

They also sought a reply from the concerned minister on the matter.

"The irregularities in paddy procurement through Markfed have been exposed. BJD's Kendrapara district president is involved in the scam. We had earlier submitted documents related to the matter," said Congress MLA from Rajnagar, Anshuman Mohanty who had brought the allegations against Sahoo.

OTV was the first news channel to telecast the news. Yesterday, Sahoo in a press meet had refuted the allegations.