BHUBANESWAR: The OPCC has demanded that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik be brought under the purview of the investigation into ‘horsetrading’ in last year’s Rajya Sabha elections. The State Government had asked the Home Department to act on the incident following a directive from the Election Commission of India (ECI). The police had lodged an FIR on the incident following instructions from the Home Department at the Capital Police Station here on Tuesday to probe the allegations. Congress spokesperson Arjya Kumar Gyanendra said youth activist Debi Prasad Prusti had earlier lodged a complaint against the Chief Minister, Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra and two Ministers of State __ Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Pushpendra Singhdeo __ on the incident. But the police are yet to a register a case basing on the complaint, he said and demanded that it should be immediately accepted and investigation launched. Stating that the directive of the ECI has confirmed the involvement of the two ministers of state in the incident, Gyanendra demanded their immediate arrest and resignation. The Chief Minister had said that any action on the alleged horsetrading in the Rajya Sabha elections would be taken after investigations are over. “We have referred the matter to the ECI,” Naveen said and added that, “Let us wait for the findings of the investigation”. The FIR, which does not name anyone, has been drawn against ‘some ministers and MLAs’, who were allegedly involved in the incident, from the BJD as well as the Opposition side.
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