Bhubaneswa: Strongly protesting merger of its Legislature Party comprising four MLAs with the ruling BJD, Sharad Pawar led NCP on Saturday sought Odisha Legislative Assembly (OLA) Speaker`s intervention into the matter.
"Since these MLAs have violated the constitution of our party, they will be charged under Anti-Defection Law," NCP state president Utkal Keshari Parida told in a letter to the Speaker.
Since NCP is a national party recognised by the Election Commission of India, its constitution should also be respected under the law.
Alleging that all the four NCP MLAs were "hijacked" by the Naveen Patnaik led BJD, Parida said they (legislatures) did not take consent of the party chief Sharad Pawar. "This is totally against the norms of NCP," Parida said.
All the four NCP MLAs- Amar Prasad Satpathy (leader of the legislature party), Prashant Nanda, Navin Nanda and Ramachandra Hansda- had joined the BJD along with their state general secretary Manu Choudhury on June 5 sparking a surprise in the state politics.
"I am delighted that very senior leaders of NCP including four MLAs came to Naveen Niwas and joined the ruling BJD," Patnaik had told reporters after merger of the NCP Legislature Party with the BJD.
"We the four MLAs have joined the BJD after holding an emergency meeting. There was no pressure on us to join the ruling party," Satpathy said.
PTI
