RS horse-trading: Police complaint filed

Bhubaneswar: An activist on Friday filed a police complaint against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, BJD MP P M Mohapatra, two ministers and a suspended Congress MLA for alleged horse-trading during last year`s Rajya Sabha polls in the state.

Though the police accepted the complaint from Debi Prasad Prusty at the capital police station, they were yet to register a case.

"We are examining the contents of the complaint made by a citizen," a senior police officer in the commissionrate of police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack said.

Seeking investigation against the five, Prusty claimed that though the BJD did not have the adequate number to win all the three vacant seats in the Rajya Sabha, the ruling party indulged in unfair means to ensure that Congress MLA Shibaji Majhi (now suspended) refrained from voting. This led to victory of the BJD`s third candidate.

Prusty also named Energy minister A S Nayak and Labour and Employment minister Pushpendra Singhdeo as the persons who lured the Congress MLA to refrain from voting. "As the chief minister is the president of ruling BJD, he is responsible for the alleged horse-trading," the complainant said.

"I am ready to face any inquiry," Singhdeo told reporters, while others including the chief minister and P M Mohapatra did not comment on the matter.