Forgery allegations against former Odisha CM

Odisha BJP president Jual Oram has accused former chief minister of the state Hemananda Biswal of obtaining a false caste certificate to enjoy various political posts.

Oram has alleged that Biswal, who is the sitting MP of Sundergarh has obtained a caste certificate from the revenue department of Odisha claiming him as ‘Bhuyan’ although he belongs to ‘Khandayat Bhuyan’ that has not been included in the ST category of the state.

In a letter to the National commission for Scheduled Tribe, New Delhi, Oram demanded immediate action against Biswal and five others who are enjoying the facilities meant for the tribal people. Oram has also brought the name of few other political leaders who are similarly enjoying power in the name of tribal category. The others are Jogesh Kumar Singh, Prafulla Kumar Majhi, Sunil Singhdeo and Sanjib Pratap Singhdeo. While Singh and Majhi are the sitting legislature of Sundergarh and Talsara constituencies, Singhdeo duo had contested assembly poll last year from Sundergarh and Biramitrapur constituencies which are reserved for tribal candidates.

On the other hand, the national commission for ST has asked for a report on the issue from the chief secretary of the state which forwarded the allegations to the commissioner-cum-secretary of SC/ST development Santosh Sarangi to take immediate step to furnish the same.

Sarangi has asked the RDC, northern division to examine and report on the allegation for onward transmission. “Since it is a serious allegation, the commission of ST/SC has directed the RDC to examine it. We will submit a report after receiving the same from RDC”, a senior official of the state government said.

Biswal, who held the post of CM twice during 1989-1990 and 1999-2000 has reacted sharply over such allegation.

"We are ‘bhuyan’ that belongs to schedule tribe and there is no truth behind such allegation” Biswal said.