Bhubaneswar: A day after BJP national president Amit Shah concluded his three-day visit, the fight between BJP and ruling BJD escalated with the former daring the later to decide place, date and time for a debate on Central share to Orissa and the later accepting the former’s challenge.
Amid fight over numbers in the 2019 Assembly elections and curtailment of Central share under various heads, BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan Saturday asked the BJD to decide place, date and time to debate on the share Orissa is receiving from the Centre.
Harichandan, however, made a condition that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will have to attend it and debate in Oriya.
“From our side, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will represent the Centre. However, the chief minister has to come for this debate and he has to debate in Oriya,” said Harichandan.
Countering the saffron party strongly, BJD RS MP and spokesperson Pratap Deb said, “Our party accepts this challenge. People of the state should also know the truth.”
However, reacting to BJP demand that CM has to join the debate, the BJD spokesperson said, “If they want our Chief Minister to join the debate then they must bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the forum.”
The ruling party leader said that the place of the debate will be Bhubaneswar and the date and time will be decided later.
Meanwhile, criticising Shah for his Mission-120 claim, BJD vice-president Damodar Rout said that this is a claim made by a gambler and not a politician.
