BHUBANESWAR: After about a year, the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Tuesday suspended Lanjigarh MLA Shivaji Majhi, who had abstained from voting during the Rajya Sabha polls in 2010 flouting party whip. Majhi was one of the two Congress MLAs who had abstained from voting in the election. The BJP MLA, Bhimsen Choudhury, had also abstained leading to Biju Janata Dal (BJD) winning all the three seats in the election. No action has so far been taken against Gregory Minz, the party MLA from Rajgangpur, for his role in the polls. The OPCC said the party took disciplinary action against Majhi after finding evidence against him. The party’s action came within a week of release of an audio tape which claimed that two Ministers of State in the present Naveen Patnaik Ministry, Pushpendra Singhdeo and Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, had negotiated with Majhi to refrain from voting in the polls. While the BJP had already suspended Choudhury on charge of facilitating the BJD candidate to win the polls, the Congress could not take any action due to lack of sufficient evidence against the two MLAs. During the Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress had issued a three-line whip asking its MLAs to vote for Independent candidate Tara Ranjan Patnaik. Sources, however, said the party is going to take appropriate action against Minz also. The Congress had set up a committee after the issue of purchase of Opposition MLAs by the BJD resurfaced. Besides inquiring whether there was any monetary deal which led to the abstention of two MLAs from voting, the controversial issue of the invalid vote will also be probed. Claiming innocence, Majhi had said that he could not vote in the Rajya Sabha polls due to illness. “I was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai and later shifted to another hospital in the city,” Majhi said, claiming that he had no intention of remaining absent on the voting day. The party had sought explanation from Majhi and Minz soon after the incident. The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) had resolved not to have any truck with the two MLAs. Besides, they were also given separate seats in the Assembly. The Congress had demanded a CBI probe into the entire matter and resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
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