AICC election committee chairman and former Union Minister Oscar Fernandes on Friday said that unlike other State Governments, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government in Odisha has failed to utilise properly huge funds provided by the UPA Government for different welfare schemes.
He was speaking at a meeting of the State Congress leaders at the Congress Bhawan here presided over by PCC vice-president Sivananda Ray.
Odisha, once considered as a fort of the Congress, still has no shortage of a large army of party supporters, but the State Congress leadership has to gear up the party cadre to come to the forefront once again, Fernandes observed.
He referred to the UPA Government’s schemes like supply of subsidised rice and wheat for food security for poor people, education to child under the Right to Education programme, minimum work security through the MNERGA and Rs 1,400 to each pregnant woman to bring them to the nearest hospitals for smooth delivery.
Replying a question, he said this time the Congress would depend on the grassroots-level recommendations for party tickets for candidates from the panchayat to Parliament levels with the final touch to be given by the party high command.
He claimed that the Congress would to come to the power in Karnataka where Assembly elections are going to be held shortly.