BHUBANESHWAR: With some hours left before Bijepur goes to by-poll, the war of words between BJD and BJP leaders plunged to a new low even as security was tightened in the constituency to prevent any untoward incident during the polling.
Attack on the brother of minister of state for labour Sushant Singh last night sparked off acrimonious exchanges between the leaders of the two political parties with the BJD alleging that it was the handiwork of BJP.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik and leader of the opposition in the assembly and Congress veteran Narasingh Mishra condemned the attack on the BJD minister's brother Subrat Singh. Describing it as an act of cowardice, the chief minister said violence has no place in politics.
The BJP, however, maintained that the minister's brother had criminal background and the attack on him was a fall out of tender fixing.
The aggressive campaigning by the rivals, BJD and BJP, was not unexpected in view of the stakes involved for both the political parties. While for BJD the by-poll is a chance to reaffirm its dominance in state politics and recover from reverses suffered in the hands of the BJP during the panchayat polls, for the saffron party it is a test for mission 120+ before next year's general election.
The Congress campaign on the other hand was low budget and low profile with the leaders mostly depending on roadshows and door to door contact with the voters.
Congress campaign picked up late and the party seemed to have recovered lost ground, but it remains to be seem how far the goodwill of the candidate among the people will translate into votes. Besides, the Congress way behind from its two rivals BJD and BJP as far as money, manpower and other resources.
Meanwhile, BJD today demanded immediate and strong action against the culprits and conspirators for a free and fair election tomorrow. Lodging a strong protest with the chief electoral officer (CEO), a delegation of BJD leaders led by vice-president Surjya Narayan Patro alleged that BJP has again resorted to violence by attacking the minister's brother.
The incident took place after union minister for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan stated at a media conference at Bargarh on Thursday, minister Sushant Singh should be removed from the constituency.
The BJD leaders alleged this incident follows earlier incidents in which the BJP workers threw eggs on the chief minister at Talasari in Balasore district and shoes were hurled at him in Kumbhari village of Barpali block.
The BJD in a separate memorandum demanded that extra security arrangements should be made along with CCTV camera surveillance in 32 sensitive booths of the constituency in view of acts of violence by the BJP workers.
The BJD also alleged that the BJP has brought women workers from outside especially from Chhattisgarh in large numbers to distribute money to the voters and they are saying in different houses. The party demanded that all outsiders who are staying and distributing money to the voters illegally should be flushed out.
The BJP, on the other hand, questioned the movement of the minister's brother in the constituency so late in the night after campaigning was over in the evening.
In a memorandum to the CEO, a delegation of BJP leaders led by vice-president Sameer Mohanty demanded that an inquiry can find out to which places the minister's brother had gone, to which place he was returning and whether he had any enmity with any criminal gangs.
BJP demanded that in view of the deteriorating law and order situation in the constituency all booths should be kept under CCTV surveillance.