Horse-trading: Braja to give his version

BHUBANESWAR: Former Union minister Braja Kishore Tripathy and engineer Lalit Mohan Patnaik will record their statements before police on ‘horse-trading’ incident in last year’s Rajya Sabha elections. Tripathy and Patnaik had filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the incident. Basing on the complaint, the ECI had asked the State Government to file an FIR to investigate the matter and submit a report to it. The State Government had filed the FIR at Capital Police Station here on September 13 without naming any minister or MLA. An audio cassette, which was in circulation, alleged that two ministers of state __ Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Pushpendra Singhdeo __ were engaged in the ‘purchase’ of Opposition MLAs.