Naveen dismisses charge of striking deal with Congress

Naveen Patnaik dismissed as "false and baseless" the allegation levelled by rebel BJD leader Pyarimohan Mohapatra that he had struck a deal with Cong.

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday dismissed as "false and baseless" the allegation levelled by rebel BJD leader Pyarimohan Mohapatra that he had struck a deal with Congress to save himself from coal scam. "The allegation (about deal with Congress) is false and baseless," Patnaik told reporters soon after his return here from a six-day visit to Delhi.

Patnaik also described as "baseless" the allegation that inner party democracy had been destroyed in the ruling BJD. Asked whether action would be taken against Mohapatra for attacking him, Patnaik said he would look into the matter. Incidentally, both Patnaik and Mohapatra returned here by the same flight from New Delhi. However, he said there was no interaction between him and the chief minister. Mohapatra at the Odisha Jana Morcha meeting here on October 28 had alleged that "there is a deal between Naveen Patnaik and Congress over coalgate. The deal is to slow down CBI probe in allocation of a coal block to a particular company on the recommendation of Naveen." The Rajya Sabha MP had also claimed that BJD had agreed to abstain from voting if UPA government faced a no-confidence motion in Parliament over FDI in retail sector. Mohapatra was suspended from BJD on the charge of attempting to topple the Patnaik government on May 29. PTI