Rourkela: OPCC chief Sarat Pattnaik, who undertook a tour of Sundargarh district, had an interaction with the media persons Thursday evening at the Congress Bhawan here. Pattnaik, who seemed to be in a hurry, was not ready to take uncomfortable questions. When asked why the lone Congress MLA from the district Rajan Ekka of Rajgangpur constituency was not present in the meeting, seemingly a little irritated Pattnaik said, “Don’t you know the Assembly is going on?” When he was reminded that the Assembly was closed he said, “I have asked him to be there.” When he was asked about his source confidence of 9-90, he again looked irritated and said, “Don’t you worry, we cannot discuss our strategy in public but we are confident that the result would be much better.” The PCC chief was not ready to take any Sundargarh-centric questions. In a monologue spanning nearly five to seven minutes he just went on speaking against the BJD government at the beginning. “Babudom would not be allowed. If you want to do politics, then leave your job. The CM is not meeting the people as he is not coming out. There is a vacuum in administration. The media is being gagged and it is not even allowed inside the Assembly.” “There are vacancies not being filled.
Corruption is at its peak. Crime against women has gone up in the state. The state has gone back in its development and the shameless government is saying everything is all right and the state is the best in the country.” His next target was the Centre and he said, “The women’s bill was a dream of Rajiv Gandhi ji, then Soniaji. We want the bill to be operational in 2024. This bill is a big eyewash. The country is going through the worst phase and BJP is responsible. Where are the two crore jobs annually? This is a government, which has pushed back the country by several years. Where are the smart cities? Where is the bullet train?” he questioned.
