Sonepur, April 25: Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday gave a call to the party leaders and workers in Odisha to oust the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government in the State for achieving faster prosperity and addressing some critical challenges like poverty, economic empowerment of farmers and weaker sections of the society.
Addressing a massive public rally here at Sonepur in Western Odisha, Shah said Odisha is now being ruled by a group of “corrupt officers” who have launched a reign of terror in the State.
“Odisha is now being ruled by a person who does have regard for the language of the land, its culture and rich history. The state is now being ruled by a bunch of ‘Bhayankar Bhrastachari’ (highly corrupt) bureaucrats,” Shah said.
His observation was seen as a clear criticism of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s inability to speak Odia and his over-reliance on a group of top officials who are allegedly managing BJD’s party affairs, violating code of conduct for civil servants.
He called upon voters to elect more than 20 Lok Sabha members from the state and give an absolute majority to the BJP in the 147-member Odisha Legislative Assembly.
In 2019, the BJP had won 8 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats.
The home minister’s broadsides against the Odisha CM and the BJD were seen as clear departures from the BJP’s “cool approach” towards the BJD. Though the BJD is the principal political opponent of the BJP, the latter had bought peace with the regional party, ostensibly to get its support for crucial passing bills in Rajya Sabha.
Shah blamed Odisha’s lack of prosperity to the inefficiency of the 24 years of Naveen Patnaik Government.
“Odisha is rich in mineral resources. It also has a huge water resource. However, the state continues to languish in abject poverty and lakhs of people are migrating to Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad in search of job. Farmers are also not getting due remuneration for their crops,” he said.
The BJP leader observed that the 24 years of the BJD rule in Odisha were just “lost years.”
“When I started reviewing the progress of various states under the Narendra Modi government, I found provinces having BJP governments have made significant strides in development. However, I found Odisha stands at the same place when Naveen Babu started his reign here,” he said.
He criticized the “rebranding” of the rice given under the public distribution system (PDS) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by the Naveen Patnaik Government.
