Sasmit Patra said- BJP is promoting criminals, cannot talk about morality

Bhubaneswar: Coming down hard on the BJP for inducting and fielding a “known law breaker” like Prashant Kumar Jagdev as its candidate, the BJD on Sunday said the saffron party has to strive for high ethics and principles in politics. I shouldn’t talk. Launching a scathing attack on BJP after Jagdev’s arrest on charges of vandalizing EVMs at a polling booth on Saturday, BJD national spokesperson Sasmit Patra said that this has exposed the face of BJP which always talks about different politics.

Patra said the BJD had expelled Jagdev from the party after he ran a vehicle over BJP workers near Balugaon in Khurda district during the panchayat elections and also attacked the city president of the saffron party. But the BJP invited him to join its camp and even fielded him as a candidate, he said.
Patra said the BJP has also fielded Pradeep Panigrahi from the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat, despite the fact that he was convicted and sentenced to jail for cheating people by taking money to get them jobs. He said BJP leaders who served the party for years were ignored and Panigrahi was promoted in their place. He said the people of the state had rejected the BJP in the last three elections and would do so in this election also because of the party’s double standards.
BJD candidate from Berhampur Lok Sabha seat Bhrigu Baxipatra and spokesperson Priyabrata Majhi said several BJP leaders had demanded action against Panigrahi for his alleged involvement in the chit fund scam. He said, now he has been made the poster boy of BJP.