Odisha BJP chief Manmohan Samal, party’s national vice-president Baijayant Panda, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, former Union Minister and Baleswar MP candidate Pratap Sarangi and Bhubaneswar MP candidate Aparajita Sarangi on Monday fired salvos by raking up key issues- Odisha Asmita, deep fake videos, Parikrama project, Odisha governance and others.
Pratap Sarangi alleged that there is a big conspiracy behind the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and CM Naveen Patnaik is to be blamed as the Home Department had withdrawn the security cover of Swamiji just before he was assassinated.
Aparajita Sarangi said the BJD is telling one thing that some BJP leaders including her opposed the Jagannath Parikrama project. “I want to make it clear that BJP never opposes development. Rather, the party opposed the process and the State Government went on the back foot,” she said. Sarangi also asked why Bhoomi Putra, a south Indian firm with no prior expertise, was entrusted by the Odisha Government to undertake the Parikrama project worth Rs 4,200 crore.
Making a veiled attack on VK Pandian, she said it has been five years that a person has hijacked the governance in Odisha. “We have respect for our CM but this Sana (younger) babu has isolated the CM from others. Be it Chief Secretary, DGP and others, nobody is allowed to meet CM without the younger babu’s permission,” said Sarangi.
Baijayant Panda said the government has been outsourced in Odisha. “The person, whom they (people of Odisha) had elected for 5 years, is being controlled like a puppet. Whenever we see the CM, we only see one person around him- be it in a helicopter or on the dais,” said Panda.