Bhubaneswar: Just ahead of fourth phase polling, senior BJP leader and Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan slammed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for “lack of vision for Odisha’s development.”
Addressing a press conference here Saturday, Pradhan asked Naveen to present a report card of his government’s 19-year rule to the people. “Why Naveen Babu is not showcasing the vision of his government for the next five years?” he asked.
It seems that, Pradhan said, Naveen gets quite irritated nowadays when he hears the two words – Modi and Parivartan.
Calling the BJD government corrupt, the BJP leader said, it has proved its incapability as the state is at the bottom in the parameters of infant mortality rate, malnutrition and poverty.
“On one hand, the BJD government is claiming that they have reduced poverty while on the other hand they are demanding for inclusion of more people under National Food Security Act (NFSA). What is correct?” he asked.
Pradhan also lambasted the BJD’s slogan of Naveen is Odisha’s identity. If Naveen Babu is the identity of Odisha, then what would be Lord Jagannath, Lord Lingaraj, Maa Samaleswari, Sambalpuri saris, Rasagolla for Odisha,? the Union minister further asked.
Taking a jibe at the alleged officer raj in Odisha, he called Naveen a puppet in the hands of ‘Kala Pahada’. Kala Pahada was an aggressor, who attacked Puri Jagannath temple and had looted the valuables. A few non-Odia officers have conspired to loot Rs 10,000 crore from Odisha every year, he alleged.
People are mentally prepared to uproot the existing government and development activities will witness a five-fold growth in five years once BJP forms government in Odisha, Pradhan claimed.
Reacting to Pradhan’s statements, BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra said, “20 lakh pucca houses have been built. The Union Ministry has admitted it. By constructing 41,000 rural roads, Odisha has earned accolades being No 1 in India. Your Central Government is giving award after award for these.”
“BJD government’s single engine has made Odisha move forward in the last 19 years; it has also made it progressive; we have gone ahead in development in all parameters,” he said.
PNN
