BHUBANESWAR: Days after the ruling BJD filed a case accusing the BJP of cheating 4.5 crore people of the State on the promise of special category status to Odisha by doing away with it in its 2019 manifesto, the saffron party on Wednesday lodged a complaint against the regional outfit with Capital police here over alleged poll code violation.
A delegation led by State BJP vice president Samir Mohanty also met the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and accused the BJD of violating the Model Code of Conduct by putting Odisha Government’s logo and website number in its poll manifesto.
In its complaint to the Capital Police, the BJP team said the ruling party has misutilised public funds to garner public support. The BJD manifesto, which carries the logo of Odisha Government, is only a copy of the series of advertisement released by the ruling party in different newspapers, the BJP alleged.
“The act of releasing the manifesto with the Government logo is intended to deceive the public/voters during a time when the Model Code of Conduct is in operation,” the complaint stated. Mohanty being the complainant has sought action against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other functionaries of the ruling party who were present during the release of BJD manifesto on Tuesday.
In response to the allegations, BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra said, “The BJD manifesto is there in the party’s website. If they know how to use the internet, they can visit the website and see what type of logo and which website number is used in the manifesto.”
Asserting that there is nothing wrong, Patra said the BJP has the habit of telling lies and the people of Odisha are aware of this.