Bhubaneswar: In a loud protest against the view of the Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs General VK Singh that special status for a state like Orissa is not necessary as it is already getting 12 per cent more Central aid than before, the activists of the Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) – youth wing of the ruling party in the state, burnt the effigy of the MoS in front of Raj Bhawan and sought an apology from the Saffron leader. The activists took out a bike rally from the party office and gheraoed the Governor House here.
Seeking the intervention of the President of India on this special category status, a delegation led by BYJD leader and MLA Sanjay Das Burma submitted a memorandum, addressed to Pranab Mukherjee, to Governor SC Jamir.
“Our party strongly condemns the remarks of the Union Minister and demands his apology. While, BJP in its poll manifesto had promised to accord special category status to Orissa, Singh’s statement has exposed BJP’s duplicity,” said Das Burma.
The party in its memo said, “Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written several letters to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Planning Commission on sanctioning special category status to Orissa and has also raised the issue many times in the National Development Council meetings but the Centre is yet to take concrete steps in this regard.”
Justifying state’s demand for a special tag, the memo read, “The state has a tribal population of 22.8 per cent which is much higher than the national average of 8.6 per cent. KBK region of the state which comprises of eight districts continues to remain one of the most backward areas of the country, while Orissa lags behind in various other aspects of infrastructure development, roads, rail network, irrigation facilities, electrification and drinking water.”
“All these factors combined make the state eligible for special category status,” the party said in its memo while requesting the President to intervene in this matter and take appropriate action.
BYJD leaders also said if the demand of Orissa was not taken into consideration then the party in the coming days would intensify its protest against Centre.
Meanwhile, BJP state leader Sajjan Sharma who came in defense for Centre said BJD was trying to politicise the issue. He further asked the BJD that what the party had done in their 17 years of rule if they were admitting that the state still lagged behind in many sectors and the KBK region still remained as one of the most backward regions in the country.
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