Congress leader and Union Minister Srikant Jena termed the BJD’s rally as a political stunt. “While the National Development Council, the Union Council of Ministers and Central Government’s Cabinet Committee are considering changes in the criteria for Special Category State status issue and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is fully aware about it, the BJD’s rallies against the Centre are nothing but political gimmick,” Jena said.
“Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has already stated that the Central Government is changing the SCS criteria and the changed criteria would help Odisha and some other States for the SCS tag. But the BJD is wasting time and money to hold a rally in New Delhi,” Jena remarked.