BHUBANESWAR: Commerce and Transport minister Bibhuti Bhusan Jena on Sunday said the investigation into the helicopter visits of former 5T chairman VK Pandian to the districts before the elections has already got underway and will be completed soon.
The minister told mediapersons that the money spent on the helicopter rides is being probed and strong action will be taken on the basis of the findings.
“The Mohan Charan Majhi government has zero tolerance to corruption in any form. Appropriate action will be taken against Pandian, if violation of rules in use of helicopters is established,” Jena said.
His statement drew sharp reaction from BJD with deputy Opposition chief whip Pratap Deb accusing the BJP of doing unnecessary politics over the issue. “Jena has repeated the same thing four times in the last 15 days,” he said. Deb said the issue was raised in the Assembly by the BJP when the party was in the Opposition. The then chief minister Naveen Patnaik had also responded to the query and clarified in the House that Pandian visited different districts on his instruction. Since the BJP is in government, it is free to investigate the matter instead of speaking about it repeatedly, he said.