People of Odisha have not forgotten the ‘golden rule’ of Congress when the growth rate of the State was restricted to 3%. From there, under the BJD rule, the growth rate has reached 10% which is higher than the national average.”
This was stated by BJD spokesperson Dr Sasmit Patra Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s remarks about the Naveen Patnaik Government’s performances during his visit here on Friday.
Under the Congress rule, Odisha was dependent on other States for rice. “Under the BJD Government, we not only reached self-sufficiency in rice production by 2007, we became rice-surplus in 2011 and now the third highest contributor of rice to the PDS system,” Dr Patra said.
The BJD has been demanding an MSP of Rs 2,930 for paddy. Unfortunately, the Congress only spoke of Rs 2,500 as MSP in 2018, and as if it is doing some charity now, it is talking of Rs 2,600.
The BJD has been maintaining equidistance from the BJP and the Congress, Dr Patra said, denying Gandhi’s allegation of a “tacit tie” between PM Modi and CM Patnaik.