The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government in the State is a scourge for Odisha. Besides cheating the poor people of their allotted PDS quota, the Government patronised illegal mining, said senior Congress leaders here in a grand meeting attended by about 10,000 people.
They levelled a litany of charges on the BJD Government, including PDS rice scam, mid-day meal mess in schools, mining irregularities, failure to promote big steel mills and embezzlement of funds under various Centre- sponsored schemes, among others. “The State Government is keen to provide water to mines and industries but not to farmers. River water is mindlessly diverted to the companies at the cost of the farmers,” charged Union Minister and senior Congress leader Srikant Jena.
Joining the chorus, PCC president Jayadev Jena too slammed the BJD Government for its ineptitude and series of scams. He referred to rise in suicide by farmers, spurt in crime, mining loot, coal block allotment irregularities, PDS goof up and the like and said the Chief Minister’s so-called clean image was sullied. MP Bhakta Das described how displacement of poor tribals for mining and industrialisation has spread large-scale resentment among the marginalised section.
The leaders appealed the people to discard the scam tainted BJD in the forthcoming polls and elect Congress to power. As a show of strength, the district Congress along with its youth wing took out a huge rally of about 5,000 youths from Naranpur to the Town Hall ground. Besides Minister Jena, MP Das, PCC chief Jena, other stalwarts of who spoke included MP Ramchandra Khuntia, leader of Opposition in the Assembly Bhupinder Singh, Prasad Harichandan, DCC president Banabihari Pahi and youth wing president Partha Sarathy Pahi.
However, while the party put up a show of its strength, the differences between several leaders came to the fore with former PCC chief Niranjan Patnaik skipping the meeting. “I was not invited to the programme,” said Patnaik, while Keonjhar DCC president Pahi was not prepared to buy the story and said, “I personally had invited Patnaik to attend the meeting but he didn’t turn up.”