Jual demands CBI probe into all MoU deals in Orissa

Bhubaneswar, Aug 18 (UNI) BJP vice-president and former Union Minister Jual Oram today demanded a CBI inquiry into all the MoUs, signed by the Orissa government, including that of POSCO, Vedant, Tata and Arcelor-Mittal, for setting up plants in the state.

Reacting to the recent statement of government chief whip and BJD MLA Kishore Mohanty at a public meeting in Bonai that he was acting as an agent of Tata and Birla, Mr Oram said only a CBI probe into all deals, signed by the state government, would clarify who was acting as an agent for whom.

Mr Oram, a former state BJP president and presently a BJP MP from Orissa, had in the past created ripples in the BJD-BJP coalition politics many times by criticising the style and functioning of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik much to the discomfort of the BJP in the state.

He was recently cautioned by party president Rajnath Singh not to cross the ''laxman rekha'' after he made a scathing attack on the Chief Minister for handing over the Khandadhar mines to South Korea steel major POSCO, describing the action as anti-tribal and against the interests of the people of the state.

The senior BJP leader even went to the extent of accusing the Chief Minister of showing undue favour to POSCO and branded him as acting an agent of multinational companies.

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