Odisha: BJD MLA’s Birthday Celebration In Govt School Draws Congress’ Ire

Jajpur: The birthday celebration of BJD MLA from Dharmasala Pranab Balabantaray in a local government school here, albeit in his absence, has snowballed into a major controversy with the Congress, alleging a breach of model code of conduct since the venue falls under the zone no 15 of the local Zilla Parishad which will witness by-election on August 9.

According to sources, the MLA’s birthday was celebrated by BJD’s youth and student wings at Bajragiri Nodal UP School in Kotapur gram panchayat in Jajpur district. Though it was a Sunday, students and teachers, wearing uniforms, attended school to participate in the cake-cutting ceremony. A banner, carrying a photograph of Balabantaray with ‘Happy Birthday Bhai’ written on it, was also displayed in the school building.

The purported video of the celebration has gone viral on social media platforms.

“Who gave permission to celebrate the MLA’s birthday in a government school?” asked Congress leader Kisan Panda, adding that the party has lodged a complaint against the BJD for violating the model code with the block development officer (BDO) of Dharmasala on his WhatsApp.

While the BDO Debendra Kumar Bal denied receiving any complaint on poll code violation, Dharmasala block education officer Nikunja Behari Mohanty said he was unaware of the incident. “We will have to verify whether something like that has happened inside the school and under what circumstances,” the BEO added.