BHUBANESWAR: Even as campaigning for the three tier panchayat polls gathered momentum, leaders from Congress and BJP continued to join the BJD strengthening the party's grassroots organization further.
More than 100 Congress workers led by Tarik Hussein Khan, son of late Habibullah Khan, joined the BJD at the Naveen Nivas here in the presence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik. Welcoming Khan and Congress workers to the party, Naveen said their presence will strengthen the BJD in Nabarangpur district.
Though the BJP has decided to launch a high-profile campaign for the panchayat polls, the Odisha chief minister's campaign scheduled is yet to be finalised. Sources in the BJD said the chief minister may not embark on an extensive campaign and may limit himself to some key areas mostly in backward tribal dominated districts.
A senior leader of the BJD said the chief minister may not campaign in coastal Odisha at all where the position of the ruling party is strong.
Meanwhile, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) today alleged that the ruling BJD has started using money and muscle power, administrative and police machinery at the local level to influence the outcome of the panchayat polls.
A release issued by the OPCC alleged that candidates supported by opposition political parties for different posts including member of the Zilla Parishad zone and sarpanch are being threatened and asked by the ruling party members not to campaign seriously in the polls.
Referring to the manner in which nomination papers of two panchayat samiti members in Penthapala panchayat of Kendrapara district were withdrawn so that Babita Tarai, wife of BJD MLA Kishore Chandra Tarai will win uncontested, the OPCC alleged that such machinations by the ruling party members has violated every democratic norms.
Gayatri Sethi and Pramila Mallik, candidates whose nomination papers were withdrawn to enable the MLA's wife to win have asserted that they had not done so. They alleged that their signatures were forged for withdrawal of their nomination papers. The State Election Commission (SEC) has already sought a report from the Kendrapara collector in this regard.
The OPCC has demanded that the nomination papers of Sethi and Mallik should remain valid and they should be allowed to contest the panchayat polls.