BJP Sambalpur Lok Sabha candidate and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday hit back at BJD supremo and CM Naveen Patnaik for being unaware of the Odisha scenario and the Assembly he is contesting for.
In a Press conference with Sambalpur media, the Union Minister referred to the reaction of the CM to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election campaign speech. He accused Naveen of being evasive about the PM's questions.
Modi had dared Naveen to say the names of 30 districts in the State without seeing any scripted note. He also asked the CM to tell the names of 10 villages in the Kantabanji Assembly constituency of Balangir, from where he is contesting this time.
Pradhan accused Naveen of raising irrelevant issues instead of answering the questions asked by Modi. He said, “The people know the CM does know anything about Odisha; he is dependent on the written notes provided by outsourced people.”
He further clarified the questions raised by the CM as to why Odishi music has not been given a classical tag yet. Pradhan said there is no such provision for giving a classical tag to any music. The Sangeet Natak Akademi has also made it clear that no music has been accorded classical status. However, the Odishi dance and Odia language have been granted classical status as per the provision, he added.
The Minister accused Naveen of not providing land for the establishment of the Centre of Excellence for Odia Language when it received classical status in 2014. Instead, the State Government has allotted a house in 2019 for its office, he said.
Pradhan highlighted that the UGC has brought engineering textbooks to Odia. Also, Rs 30 crore of grant has been provided to the State for the development of Odia, he informed.