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‘Chowkidar chor hai’ bubble bursts, Rahul Gandhi tells SC that he attributed statement to Rafale judgement in ‘heat of campaigning’

OpIndia Staff
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‘Chowkidar chor hai’ bubble bursts, Rahul Gandhi tells SC that he attributed statement to Rafale judgement in ‘heat of campaigning’

Rahul Gandhi who has developed a penchant for lying and getting caught in the process has this time been caught in the Supreme Court for his lies, no less. Earlier, the Supreme Court, pursuant to a petition filed by BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi had sent Rahul Gandhi a criminal contempt notice for twisting the Supreme Court’s words and attributing ‘chowkidaar chor hai’ words to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Rafale case. In his response, Rahul Gandhi had said that he made the statement in the heat of election campaigning.


Rahul Gandhi has thus essentially retracted his statement where he said that the Supreme Court has admitted that “Chowkidaar ne chori ki hai” and, in an attempt to shield himself from criminal contempt, said that the statement was made in the heat of political campaigning.

Rahul Gandhi, while addressing the media, had said that Supreme Court has accepted that ‘Chokidar Chor Hai’.

Hearing the petition, CJI Ranjan Gogoi had said, “The views attributed to this court in the address made by Rahul Gandhi to the media and public has been incorrectly attributed to the court. Supreme Court at no occasion recorded any such views or made any such observations. What was decided by the court was legal admissibility of certain documents. We feel it proper to seek an explanation from Rahul Gandhi.”

Rahul Gandhi had distorted the SC order while talking to the media, and said that Supreme Court has accepted that there is some form of corruption in Rafale deal and that “chowkidaar ne chori karwayi hai”. The Supreme Court observed that it had on “no occasion” made any comments as attributed by Gandhi and that the judgment was solely on the legal question of admissibility of documents produced by review petitioners. The top court has asked Rahul Gandhi to reply by April 22.

According to a Republic TV translation, Rahul Gandhi has said:

“Now, let’s talk about Rafale row. A couple of days ago, an interview of Prime Minister was played on TV where he told the journalist that Court has given him a clean chit. Today, the Supreme Court had made it clearer that the Chowkidar has is involved in the theft (Chowkidaar ne chori ki hai). Supreme Court has accepted that there is corruption involved in the entire Rafale issue. And like I have been saying for ages now, if an investigation is undertaken on this matter, two names will surface: Narendra Modi and Anil Ambani. I have been saying for the past few months that the Prime Minister of India stole Air Force’s money and gave it to Anil Ambani, amount of 30,000 crores. The Supreme Court has taken cognisance of this and has called for an investigation. I have been challenging Mr Modi for a debate. Narendra Modi Ji the Supreme Court has said that you are indulged in corruption and you have supplied money to Anil Ambani. Come, let’s discuss corruption. The nation wants to know about Rafale matter, corruption and demonetisation. They already know about Amit Shah’s son. I am saying that the there was corruption involved in the Rafale deal and Modi Ji gave an amount of 30,000 crores to Anil Ambani. Chowkidar don’t want to debate with me. Supreme Court will do justice. Supreme Court said that Chowkidar is involved in a theft (Chowkidar ne chori ki hai)”. 

Earlier, responding to sexual harassment allegations that had been levelled against the Chief Justice of India, CJI Ranjan Gogoi had said that he was being pressurised to not preside over important cases that he was about to hear this week. The contempt petition against Rahul Gandhi was one of the cases.

Locals of Begusarai reveal how goons of Kanhaiya Kumar beat them up on his instructions after they waved black fags during his roadshow

OpIndia Staff
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Locals of Begusarai reveal how goons of Kanhaiya Kumar beat them up on his instructions after they waved black fags during his roadshow

Shocking videos have surfaced in which locals of Begusarai, Bihar are seen complaining that they were mercilessly beaten up by CPI candidate from Bihar’s Begasarai constituency, Kanhaiya Kumar’s supporters on his instructions.


The incident occurred after some locals of the village waved black flags at him and raised slogans against Kanhaiya Kumar during a roadshow on Sunday. This led to subsequent clashes between his supporters and the locals.

Irked by the handful of locals, Kanhaiya allegedly instructed his supporters to hit everyone who was seen waving the black flags at him. His supporters began to unleash their anger at innocent locals as well. They entered houses of locals and started to pull them out of their respective houses before assaulting them. Kanhaiya Kumar is seen monitoring the entire incident while standing in his car.


A local who tried to raise his voice against the brutality is seen being pushed and assaulted by Kumar’s supporters.


A team of police arrived at the spot and the situation was brought under control. No FIR has been lodged in this connection so far, the officer said.

However, this is not the first time the wannabe politician who after being ditched by the ‘mahagathbandhan‘ is contesting 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a CPI (Communist Party of India) ticket from Begusarai, has faced such resentment. Earlier too during a campaign procession, Kanhaiya Kumar was gheraoed by Begusarai locals and questioned about the ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’ slogans that were raised by him and his opposition to reservation for the economically backward sections of the society.

Locals of Begusarai, who were outraged by Kanhaiya Kumar’s stand on various issued stopped his cavalcade and asked him what kind of ‘Azaadi’ he wanted, referring to the ‘Hum cheen ke lenge Azaadi, Bharat tere tukde honge Inshallah’ slogans that were raised in JNU by Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and other students in 2016.

The local who confronted Kanhaiya said that the poor people of this country don’t want any ‘Azaadi’. He also said that while it is good that Kanhaiya wants to become a politician, but he needs to give answers to the people of this country.

Following the conversation, both sides resorted to sloganeering. The locals, in unison, said “Deshdrohi Murdabad”. According to reports, it was only after persuasion that Kanhaiya’s cavalcade was allowed to pass.

Incidentally, in October 2018, an FIR was filed in Patna against Kanhaiya Kumar and his supporters after they misbehaved with AIIMS doctors. From his close aide accusing him of being a ‘liar’ and a ‘casteist’, to when Kanhaiya was accused of flashing his d***k to a woman, Kanhaiya Kumar has been a paragon of disruption and a symbol of everything that is wrong with Indian politics. We had earlier also reported how Kanhaiya Kumar had used a disreputable journal, which is blacklisted internationally, to get his article published for PhD thesis submission.

Allahabad Court sends notice to Congress and Election Commission: Is NYAY scheme a bribe to voters?

OpIndia Staff
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Allahabad Court sends notice to Congress and Election Commission: Is NYAY scheme a bribe to voters?

Congress’ slogan for the 2019 elections is ‘Ab NYAY Hoga’ (Now, justice will be served). The slogan is based on a scheme called NYAY that has been mentioned by Congress in its 2019 election manifesto. The scheme promises to transfer Rs. 72,000 as minimum income to poor families who earn less than that. Now, the scheme itself has run into trouble as Allahabad Court has issued a notice to Congress and the Election Commission of India (ECI) asking whether the scheme itself can be considered an electoral bribe to the voters.

The Allahabad High Court has issued a notice to ECI and the Congress party, pursuant to a petition filed, asking whether Congress’ NYAY scheme is a violation of the Representation of People Act, 1951 and Model Code of Conduct.

The Petition says that according to Section 100 of the People’s Representation Act, the election is liable to be held void if the result has been materially affected by corrupt practices.

The petition, according to Bar and Bench says:

“What constitutes “Corrupt Practice”, has been enumerated in Section 123 of the RP Act. It includes “bribery”, that is to say, any gift, offer or promise of a candidate or his agent or by any other person with the consent of candidate, his Election Agent or any gratification to any person whomsoever with the object, directly or indirectly, inducing an Elector to vote or as a reward to elector having voted”.

The Petition appeals to the Court to order the removal of the NYAY scheme from Congress’ list of poll promises. The petition also asks the Court to direct Congress candidates to not take advantage of the scheme in their election campaigning.

The Allahabad Court, after issuing the notice, has given the Election Commission 10 days to respond. The next date of hearing is set to be May 13th.

Interestingly, the Court also observed that the petitioner had taken up the issue with the Election Commission by submitting a representation but the Election Commission did not take cognizance of it.

There have been several allegations of bias against the Election Commission in the ongoing 2019 elections. Recently, former civil servants had written a letter to the President of India raising concern over the selectivity of Election Commission and had alleged that a motivated group of people were influencing the EC to take anti-Modi decisions. Recently, the EC had barred the release of PM Modi’s biopic starring Vivek Oberoi and had also ordered that even the episodes already aired of EROS series based on PM Modi should be taken off the air.

Sri Lankan PM admits they failed to act on warning, reports suggest India had warned about possible terror attack too

OpIndia Staff
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Sri Lankan PM admits they failed to act on warning, reports suggest India had warned about possible terror attack too

Yesterday, a series of almost simultaneous 8 blasts rocked the Sri Lankan capital f Colombo and other places. The death toll so far has been placed at an overwhelming 290 and over 500 people are reportedly injured in one of the worst attacks in the decade.

Sri Lanka’s PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has reportedly admitted that they had been warned about possible attacks by an Islamist terrorist group. PM Wickremesinghe stated that despite the warning by intelligence agencies, Sri Lanka ‘failed’ to take adequate measures.

As per a report on News18, top intelligence sources have informed that Zahran Hasheem of the radical Islamist group National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ) had planned to carry out an Istishhad (suicide attack) in Sri Lanka. They had also conducted a dry-run and had placed explosive-laden motorcycle at Palmunai near Kattanakudi on April 16.

the report states that India had shared the intelligence input that the NTJ might carry out attacks in Churches and a hotel frequented by Indian nationals. The information was reportedly shared on April 4.

Yesterday, it was also reported that Sri Lanka’s police chief Pujuth Jayasundara had sent out a warning to top officials about the threat 10 days ago. “A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,” said the alert.

An Indian Express report also claims that two sources, one Indian and one Sri Lankan have confirmed that India had sent alert to its southern neighbor about imminent terrorist attacks in the little island nation. Reports also claim that it was on the basis of India intelligence that Sri Lankan police chief had sent out the April 11 warning.

PM Wickremasinghe has also stated that they would need international help to ascertain whether the terrorists had received help from another country. He, however, added that as per his latest information, the terrorists were all locals.

13 people have so far been arrested in connection to the blasts. A curfew had been in place all over the island nation from Sunday evening to Monday morning. Social media and messaging services have also been shut down to curb the spreading of fake news.

AltNews co-founder caught shielding Islamists following the Sri Lanka terror attacks

OpIndia Staff
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AltNews co-founder caught shielding Islamists following the Sri Lanka terror attacks

AltNews co-founder Zubair, who has often displayed Islamist tendencies was yesterday found shielding radical Islamists who may have been responsible for the serial bomb blasts in Sri Lanka. On Easter Sunday, as many as eight bombs blasts, most of which were suicide attacks, rocked Sri Lanka. While the Sri Lankan government has not disclosed names of the suspects who may have been involved in the attacks, an unconfirmed letter warning of the imminent terror attacks was being circulated over social media yesterday.

On April 11, Sri Lanka’s intelligence had reportedly issued a nationwide alert of possible suicide attacks being planned against Catholic Churches and potentially the Indian High Commission in Colombo by an extremist Islamist organization called the National Thowheed Jamath. The same was later on confirmed and shared by Harin Fernando, a Sri Lankan Minister who shared it on his social media.


However, self-proclaimed fact-checker AltNews’ co-founder Zubair was busy spending his Easter Sunday shielding Islamists by labelling the above letter ‘fake’.


One may argue that since the warning letter was not confirmed and not from an official government source, it should not be circulated to create panic. While that is correct, the appropriate response in such case would be to call the letter in circulation as ‘unconfirmed’. By calling it fake, Zubair ended up shielding the Islamists who could have been responsible for the attack.

As of now, multiple reports have also confirmed that a blast in Cinnamon Grand hotel during the brunch yesterday was carried out by one man who had checked in as Mohamed Azzam Mohamed giving a false address. As per reports, he waited in a queue and right before he was served he set off a powerful bomb in a packed restaurant in the hotel.

To prove his point that the ‘letter’ was fake, Zubair showed how Al Jazeera had retracted its story on the letter.


However, Zubair has not yet updated that the same Al Jazeera has now published a new story where Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had prior information on the possibility of the attacks.

With this new information coming to light, one wonders whether AltNews will fact-check their own co-founder for calling ‘unconfirmed’ reports, which were later on confirmed by the country’s prime minister, as ‘fake’.

Clearly, this is not the first time Zubair has been caught sharing misleading information and calling actual news as ‘fake’ based on selective information. Before Karnataka Assembly Elections, Zubair shared a fake image of BJP leader BSY Yeddyurappa in a bid to defame him. He has also peddled a protest march picture from Maharashtra as one in Delhi and was later forced to retract and apologise. Zubair has also confused FDI in single brand retails and multi-brand retails.

However, with what he has done after Sri Lanka blasts, it seems that he has graduated from sharing fake or misleading images and misinformation to shielding radical Islamists as well.

Shekhar Gupta says ‘latest’ CVoter survey predicts BJP getting 220 in 2019 elections, Yashwant Deshmukh calls it fake news

OpIndia Staff
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Shekhar Gupta says ‘latest’ CVoter survey predicts BJP getting 220 in 2019 elections, Yashwant Deshmukh calls it fake news

On 21st April 2019, Shekhar Gupta, the owner of the leftist online portal The Print and the current Editors Guild chief tweeted about how Prime Minister Modi would in all likeliness, per him, not reach the majority mark in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2019. He replugged an old December 2018 interview with Rajesh Jain who he called the brain behind Modi’s 2014 Mission 272. He also stated the pollster CVoter headed by Yashwant Deshmukh, predicts 220 for PM Modi now as opposed to 282 in 2014.


Shekhar Gupta attempted to bring credibility to his analysis by saying that Rajesh Jain had predicted 80-100 seats lesser from BJP than its 2014 number which was 282. He then attempted to solidify that position taken by Rajesh Jain by saying that CVoter had NOW revised its prediction to 220 for BJP against 282 in 2014.

According to the Model Code of Conduct in place, while the election phases are ongoing, pollsters are not supposed to give exit or opinion polls. Which also means that pollsters are not meant to predict how many seats a party may or may not get in the General Elections once the voting starts.

Due to the MCC rules, some eyebrows were raised. While some people questioned Shekhar Gupta, others questioned Yashwant Deshmukh, the head of CVoter.

Soon, Yashwant Deshmukh released a clarification slamming Shekhar Gupta.


Yashwant Deshmukh, putting the record straight said that CVoter has respected the Election Commission embargo and has not released any vote or seat numbers once the election process started.

He said that the numbers quoted by Shekhar Gupta were either from the December 2018 survey of CVoter or someone is trying to give wrong input in CVoter’s name.

Essentially, Yashwant Deskhmukh clarified that Shekhar Gupta saying that CVoter has NOW predicted 220 for PM Modi as opposed to the 282 seat mandate BJP got in 2014 is utterly false.

ABP-CVoter in December had predicted 261 for NDA in 2019 elections and in January, CVoter for Republic had predicted 335 for NDA. It is still a mystery from where the 220 numbers were picked up by the media.

In an election season, the prospects of a party and the number of seats they are likely to win changes every day. Hence, if Shekhar Gupta has peddled December 2018 numbers as current numbers in April 2019 while the polls are still on, it reaks of mischief and a malicious agenda to influence the polls.

Shekhar Gupta, being the chief of Editors Guild and running a platform that has all the resources at its disposal is unlikely to fall for some third party feeding incorrect data to The Print in CVoter’s name, and hence, the explanation that Shekhar Gupta maliciously peddled December 2018 numbers as current predictions or entirely made up the numbers and attributed it to CVoter are more likely explanations.

In fact, the 220 number was peddled by several others as well. The Quint too cited this mysterious poll survey done by CVoter that Yashwant Deshmukh says was never carried out. The Deccan Herald too followed suit among many others.

The Quint article

The Print and Shekhar Gupta himself have been caught several times peddling false information and downright lies. Recently, The Print had spread dangerous lies about Polio vaccines in India. Shekhar Gupta’s platform had also discovered a new low when it gave a Khalistan a platform to air his separatist and dangerous views. In fact, in a desperate attempt to garner eyeballs, had resorted to cheap sexual innuendos asking village women whether they think of PM Modi as a ‘sex symbol’. Shekhar Gupta himself has peddled many lies and most recently, he had managed to even use Wing Commander Abhinandan’s return from Pakistan to deride India with half facts and whole lies.

Odisha: Bombs hurled at BJP Bhubaneswar candidate Jagannath Pradhan’s vehicle, he escapes unhurt

OpIndia Staff
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Odisha: Bombs hurled at BJP Bhubaneswar candidate Jagannath Pradhan’s vehicle, he escapes unhurt

Some goons have hurled a bomb at the vehicle of the BJP Bhubaneswar (Central) assembly candidate Jagannath Pradhan in the state capital. However, Pradhan did not suffer any injuries as he escaped unhurt in the incident but the windows of his car were damaged.

Reportedly, Jagannath Pradhan has accused BJD goons of hurling bombs on his car. “I was returning from campaigning when the miscreants hurled a bomb to my car. I was lucky as the windows were closed,” alleged Pradhan.

Meanwhile, the Odisha Police have started an investigation to verify the allegations made by Pradhan. Bombs were also hurled at the vehicle of BJD candidate and a former mayor of Bhubaneshwar.

A similar incident had happened recently when BJP candidate Jagannath Pradhan was reportedly attacked during party’s rally in Bhubaneswar. Reportedly, Pradhan had accused the Biju Yuva Vahini activists of pelting stones at the BJP rally.

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan reacted to the incident and said, “Violence in Odisha is increasing day by day. Today, BJP MLA candidate from Bhubaneswar Central, Jagannath Pradhan was attacked for the third time. A bomb was hurled at his car. We met EC officials and demanded that an investigation should be ordered.”

Incidents of political violence have been reported in Odisha since the announcement of elections in the state. On the eve of the second phase of Lok Sabha and assembly polls, the mutilated body of a BJP worker was found in the Agajhola village in Bhanjanagar, Ganjam. The BJP worker, a 26-year-old man named Santosh Pati was allegedly found dead in a pool of blood.

Similarly, a BJP Mandal president in Khurda town was shot dead earlier this week by unknown assailants near the party office while the MLA candidate had a narrow escape.

In another instance, the nephew of the BJP MLA candidate in the same Bhanjanagar area was attacked by violent miscreants and had sustained critical injuries. Ajit Pradhan, the nephew of BJP MLA candidate Pradyumna Nayak was violently attacked after a public meeting of union minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Fact check: Did Prime Minister Modi use an abusive word as claimed by Congress

OpIndia Staff
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Fact check: Did Prime Minister Modi use an abusive word as claimed by Congress

The short answer is no. The long answer is Congress in its desperation has stooped so low that they are not even trying to be believable in coming up with accusations. Today afternoon, Congress IT-cell member Gaurav Pandhi shared a maliciously edited video on Twitter with a portion of Prime Minister Modi’s speech playing on the loop to make it sound like it is an abusive term. He was corrected by many people that what he is claiming is incorrect.


In the above clip, PM Modi says in Gujarati, “Loko em keh chhe bhavishya ma ladaiyo paani thavain chhe. Ala bhai badha koh chho paani ni ladai thavain chhe to pachhi ame atyar thi paani pehla paal kem na bandhiye?” (People are saying that in future the world will fight over water. If people are going to fight over water in future, why don’t we build a dam before such a crisis arise?)

The portion “thavain chhe” which means “will happen (or take place)” if put on loop very fast would sound like an abusive word. Much like playing the word ‘Pandhi’ on loop really, really fast could make it sound like ‘Pidi’.

Pandhi was corrected by many people, including The Quint, which had live-streamed PM Modi’s speech, portion of which was maliciously edited by Pandhi.


He was repeatedly corrected by people.


Altnews founder, too, had corrected Pandhi.


Pandhi still decided to brazen it out.


However, by the time this report is published, AltNews has not done a fact-check on Pandhi’s misinformation.

But by now, other Congress-friendly people and Pidi aspirants also joined in.


However, since these were non-Gujaratis and perhaps could be given the benefit of doubt of not understanding the nuances of colloquial language even if one knows it is willful sharing of misinformation and fake news. But, Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia, who is a Gujarati himself, joining in and giving legitimacy to this falsehood is a new low in this election season.


Gujarat goes to vote for the ongoing general elections on Tuesday, April 23. It is just unfortunate and sad that Gujarat Congress has resorted to such cheap tactics which hold absolutely no water.

NDA candidate from Wayanad Thushar Vellappally seeks review of Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad nomination over foreign passport issue

OpIndia Staff
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NDA candidate from Wayanad Thushar Vellappally seeks review of Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad nomination over foreign passport issue

Congress President Rahul Gandhi seems to have landed in some serious trouble regarding his citizenship. After objections were raised over the discrepancies in the documents submitted by Gandhi while filing his nomination from Amethi, now a complaint has been filed against his nomination from Wayanad.


The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate from Wayanad, Thushar Vellappally has written to the Chief Election Commission (CEO) Kerala requesting to review Rahul Gandhi’s nomination from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency. He wrote that Rahul Gandhi is carrying the passport of a foreign country as well and that this was not disclosed by him in his affidavit. “It’s understood that Rahul Gandhi is having passport of a foreign country also. He didn’t disclose this in the nomination filed or in the affidavit”, he wrote.


Vellappally requested the CEO to review the acceptance of Gandhi’s nomination in Wayanad to check for its validity and reject the application.

Thushar Vellappally is the president of Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), which is part of NDA. On April 1st, BJP president Amit Shah had announced on Twitter that Vellappally will be NDA candidate from Wayanad.

Following the objections raised by an independent candidate from Amethi, Dhruv Lal, the scrutiny of Gandhi’s nomination papers was postponed to April 22 as Gandhi’s lawyer sought time from the Returning Officer of Amethi to counter the objections.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik alleges that Baijayant Panda had spread rumour about his health, Panda denies

OpIndia Staff
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Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik alleges that Baijayant Panda had spread rumour about his health, Panda denies

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik opened up about the break off the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member Baijayant Panda from the party citing three reasons. Patnaik discussed all the three reasons that, according to him, resulting in strained relations between the two. Panda had joined BJP in March this year almost a year after he had resigned from BJD.

Citing the first instance, Patnaik said that he felt let down when a former Railway Minister laughed at him while he was pursuing the development of railways in Kendrapara, saying that his MP (Panda) was only concerned about the development of railway network to his mining companies. “I was pursuing the development of railways in Kendrapara. It is the only district on the coast which has no rail development. A former railway Minister laughed and said that you are pursuing the development of railway in Kendrapara but your MP (Panda) is only concerned about railway development to his mining companies”, said Patnaik.

He added that the relations between the two further weakened after Panda allegedly spread rumours about Patnaik’s health. After 2014, a number of my friends from Delhi rang up very concerned because they thought I was in bad health. But my health has always been good and I told them so. They told me that this is what Baijayant Panda was spreading. This was a shock”, he said.

The third reason that dealt the final blow to their relationship was Panda’s big political ambitions, as told by the Odisha CM. “He wanted to be Chairman of Parliamentary Finance Committee. Our party did not have sufficient numbers but he thought he would get the support of the BJP. I didn’t think it was a good idea and I didn’t support him because of the financial dealings of his company. I didn’t think this would be a great precedent”, told Patnaik.

Patnaik also raised doubts over the credibility of Panda’s companies. “Their companies have always had a shady reputation”, he said.

Baijayant Panda has denied the allegations that he spread rumours about the health of Naveen Patnaik.


He said that he never spoke about Odisha CM’s health. He asserted that these conspiracy theories are ridiculous, and these have been planted by the coterie on Naveen Patnaik.

Baijayant Panda had resigned from BJD and the post of MP in June last year after he was removed from the post of party’s spokesperson and later suspended from the party. He joined the BJP in March this year and was later appointed the Vice President of the BJP.

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