Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harinchandan on Monday said BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced support to NDA’ Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind in a haste to protect self rather than to safeguard the State’s interest.
“Naveen Patnaik and his party are always talking about giving respect to women. While five women are being gang-raped every day, violence against Dalit women is on the rise. Under this backdrop, how the Chief Minister forgot to support a woman Presidential nominee like Meira Kumar, who is not a Dalit woman only but has vast administrative and political experiences,” said Harichandan.
He said Patnaik should now resolve the Mahanadi, Special State Category and paddy MSP issues on single phone calls to Prime Minister Modi as he agreed to support Kovind’s candidature on a single phone call from Modi.
Stating that Meira Kumar is the worthiest candidate, the PCC chief called upon all BJD and BJP MlAs to cast votes in her favour. Meanwhile, six Congress MlAs Tara Prasad Bahinipati, Bhujabal Majhi, Jogesh Singh, Chandrasekhar Majhi, Ansuman Mohanty and Jacob Pradhan left for New Delhi at the party high command’s instance to file nomination for the UPA’s Presidential candidate Meira Kumar.