Bhubaneswar: BJD president Naveen Patnaik Wednesday asked his party leaders to expose the “lies” of Odisha’s ruling BJP which would celebrate the first anniversary of its government in the state June 20.
Patnaik, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, said this while addressing a gathering of youths and student wing members through video conferencing.
“Make people aware of the BJP’s lies and falsehoods. Let the people know how the BJP government has been destroying all development works initiated by the previous BJD government,” Patnaik said.
The BJD president was the chief minister of Odisha between 2000 and 2024.
Virtually inaugurating the function held at Puri, Patnaik said: “For one year, the BJP government is busy changing the names and colour code of various welfare schemes and development works started by the previous government.”
He alleged that the BJP government changed the “popular” health insurance scheme Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana and introduced Ayushman Bharat for which the patients are facing difficulties in availing treatment.
Patnaik called upon the youths and students to counter the false propaganda of the state’s BJP government.
Senior BJD leaders like Debi Prasad Mishra, Sanjay Dasbarma, Pramila Mallick and Arun Kumar Sahoo were also present at the event.
All of them highlighted the failure of the state government in one year and the central government in eleven years.
“The opportunities that were created for youths and students in terms of education and employment during the BJD government have now been destroyed under the BJP’s one-year rule,” Mishra claimed.
He alleged that the ‘Skilled in Odisha’ initiative launched by Patnaik has not made any progress under the BJP government.
BJD’s senior vice president Pramila Mallick alleged that the BJP government allowed a culprit to go scot free because he is the son of a governor.
Mallik was alluding to the alleged assault of a Raj Bhavan employee by the then-Governor Raghubar Das’s son in Puri last year.
She alleged that tribal women were dying after consuming mango kernel and minor girls were being raped every day.
PTI
