The Congress legislature Party on Friday questioned the sincerity of the BJD Government in achieving special category status and slammed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his double standards.
When BJD was a partner in the NDA Government led by then Prime Minister Atal Beherai Vajpayee, Patnaik being a Union Minister and subsequently the Chief Minister of the State had been silent all along on the issue despite the his party having made it a poll promise of getting special tag for the State, said leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh and Chief Whip Prasad Hrichandan.
When the BJD threatened to withdraw from the NDA if the demand of special status for Odisha was not achieved and Prime Minister Vajpayee, then Home Minister lK Advani and then Rural Development Minister Venkiah Naidu had bluntly said that Odisha did not qualify for getting the benefit, Patnaik and his party had not shown an iota of protest, said Singh and Harichandan, seeking a public clarification from the Chief Minister on the issue.
Alleging that the demand of special category status was being raised by the BJD ahead of the elections to get political mileage by misguiding the innocent people of the State, they said the Chief Minister had been hoodwinking the people for the last 13 years by raising the slogan but had done nothing tangible to achieve the demand.
They further said if the State Government and the ruling BJD was sincere, it should not have shied away from a discussion on the issue brought by Congress in the House in form of an adjournment motion.
Reacting to ruling BJD’s protest and forced adjournment of the House by creating disorderly scene on Friday over the reply of Union Minister of State for Planning Rajiv Shukla, Harichandan and Singh said that the attempt was to stifle the democratic process by the ruling party. “Today would be remain a black day in the Parliamentary history of Odisha,” they remarked. Defending Shukla they said that the Union Minister had only pointed out the present status basing on an integrated consideration of the existing criteria as far as special category issue was concerned.