It is a show of strength over the IOCl’s Paradip Refinery Project by the BJP and the BJD as the two ruling parties at the Centre and in the State, respectively, have come to a confrontation mode over the former’s high-voltage campaign to take credit for the project ahead of its inauguration on February 7.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been targeted by the BJD for going extra miles to take credit from the event as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Central PSU’s inauguration.
To provide a befitting reply to the BJD, the BJP has rightly fielded Pradhan as worth his salt. Pradhan has earlier shown his skill to counter BJD in a host of crucial State specific issues as though he represents the voice of the Opposition in the State. His success rate notwithstanding, the Union Minister is the pivot as far as projecting the Modi Government’s face in Odisha is concerned.
Under the stewardship of Pradhan, the BJP has been making a consistent effort over last few days to ensure that Modi finds lakhs of BJP supporters at the venue in Paradip. Undaunted by BJD’s adverse views, the party has pressed into service many vehicles carrying the posters of Modi and Pradhan. Giant hoardings have been fixed at many locations across the State. The party has also splurged on advertisements in print and electronic media. Pradhan virtually has united day and night and asked his men to work dedicatedly so that Modi’s meeting becomes a huge success and the party gets the desired mileage.
Not just propaganda vehicles and all-smile photos of Modi and Pradhan at roadsides and posh locations in coastal Odisha, but all oil filling stations have installed huge hoardings of Modi and Pradhan, the latter being their immediate boss.
The BJD has taken strong exception to IOCl’s men and machineries being used for publicity of Modi and Pradhan. The party has also lambasted Pradhan for his poster along with Prime Minister Modi in the propaganda vehicles. Besides, the Cuttack D-brothers episode has provided the much-needed lubricant to the BJD cannon against the Oil Minster.
On the contrary, the BJD has geared up to steal the thunder of the BJP by a bigger gathering of party supporters to outsmart the rival. All the party bigwigs of Jagatsiinghpur district, sinking their differences, have planned for a huge crowd of BJD people with banners, flags and posters at the IOCl venue so that the regional party squeezes the BJP to a corner.
While the BJP and BJD are vying to take credit for the oil project, the Congress has shouted from its wilderness. Already defamed over its internal feuds and failed strategies, the party has claimed the project to be its contribution to Odisha. Top Congress leaders like Srikant Jena and Niranjan Patnaik have given statistics to strengthen their claims.