Post News Network
Cuttack, Oct 3: The district unit of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) launched the Jana Sampark Padayatra on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary Friday after garlanding the statue of Utkalamani Gopabandhu at Gopabandhu Bhawan here.
The padayatra, led by Cuttack district BJD president and Mahanga MLA Pratap Jena, was held in the form of a procession that passed through the main thoroughfares of the city and ended at Swaraj Ashram with the garlanding of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi there.
BJD leaders and supporters said the state government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has continued to implement various developmental schemes for the people. They explained through their speeches how the welfare schemes of the state government were people friendly and gave a new, more meaningful direction to the developmental work taking place in the state. The padayatra aimed at reaching out to the masses with the success story of the BJD government.
The ruling party’s leaders were vocal against the Centre for neglecting the state’s interests in providing adequate funds and for slashing central contribution for various schemes like women and child development and other social welfare schemes. They vowed to continue their fight against the Centre for depriving the state of its legitimate rights.
During the padayatra, BJD supporters highlighted various developmental schemes of the state government. BJD state observer Bijayshri Routray, Cuttack MP Bhatruhari Mahtab, MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain, state BJD general secretary and MLA Debasish Samantray, MLA Pravat Ranjan Biswal, MLA Pramod Mallick, MLA Chandrasarathi Behera, BJD district general secretary Prasant Nayak, Mayor Anita Behera, deputy mayor Ajay Barik, zilla parishad chairman Prasant Behera, vice-chairperson Doli Sahu and corporator Ramjan Khan were among the leaders who highlighted the state government’s success stories under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
