Bhubaneswar: As the BJP government in Odisha is gearing up to celebrate its first year in Odisha, the BJD has accused its state president Manmohan Samal of submitting ‘contradictory and false information’ in two sets of affidavits—one for the State Bar Council elections and another to the Election Commission.
The regional party alleged that it was an deliberate attempt to suppress unfavourable details. “As someone holding the high position of a state president of a national party, such discrepancies cast doubt on his ethics and credibility,” BJD spokesperson and media coordinator Lenin Mohanty told a presser on Tuesday.
Elaborating further, he said: “In an affidavit submitted to the State Bar Council in 2015, Samal stated that he has been practising as a lawyer at Chandabali Court since 1986. However, in that same affidavit, he failed to disclose that he had served as Minister of Food Supplies and Revenue in the state cabinet from 2004 to 2009.”
“On the other hand, in affidavits submitted to the Election Commission during the 2019 and 2024 general elections, Samal made no mention of his legal practice. Instead, he listed social service as his profession,” Mohanty alleged.
The regional party further claimed that the State Bar Council had issued a show-cause notice to Samal over his legal practice while he was a minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government.
The BJD spokesperson said that Samal should respond to the show-cause notice and issue a public clarification. He also called for strict action against him for this serious violation.