Senior BJP leader and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday intensified the campaign against ruling BJD for the December 5 Padampur bypoll, alleging that the Naveen Patnaik-led party was “tired due to overstaying” in power in Odisha for 22 years and hence lacks vision for the development of the state.
While campaigning for party candidate Pradip Purohit, he also accused the BJD government in the state of rebranding central schemes and passing those off as state government initiatives.
The Union education minister has participated in several rallies and road shows in the assembly seat since Tuesday.
“The state government has become tired due to overstaying in power for the last 22 years. It is therefore unable to conceive new ideas for welfare schemes,” he said.
Accusing the state government of rebranding central government schemes and passing those off as its own, he said this was an attempt at misleading the common people of the state.
He was referring to the government’s announcement of raising the limit of interest-free loans for women self-help groups from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday describing the decision as “revolutionary”.
“What is so revolutionary about it? Centre had already formulated such as scheme and the state government was just trying to paste its name on it,” he said.
He alleged that the state government has failed to deliver on its promises.
“What has the BJD government done for the people? There are no teachers in schools, doctors in hospitals, water to drink and irrigation facilities.
“People have given 22 years to Patnaik and he wakes up before elections. Even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives him money, Patnaik is not able to spend those,” he said.
BJD vice-president and former state finance minister Prasanna Acharya said, “Pradhan frequently says that Modi gave funds to Odisha. Modi is just a person, Odisha did not get any alms from any person. This is a federal system and our state gets some assistance from the Union government, not the prime minister.”
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