Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik concluded his marathon campaign in western Odisha on Sunday with the promise of free power supply from July.
Addressing a massive gathering at Kantabanji in Balangir district, Naveen said waiving the electricity bill of the consumers will be his first work after being sworn in as chief minister on June 9.
He also assured of continuing the welfare schemes including Mission Shakti, BSKY, Mamata, LAccMI, Nua-O scholarship, KAALIA, Madhubabu pension, 5T school and others evoking a huge round of applause from the crowd. He also appealed to the people to vote for himself as Kantabanji MLA candidate and BJD’s candidate for Balangir Lok Sabha seat Surendra Singh Bhoi.
Kantabanji was the last stop of Naveen’s campaign tour in western Odisha. Earlier, he addressed the election meetings at Muribahal and Bangamunda in the district.
Speaking at the meeting, BJD leader VK Pandian said though people of all constituencies across the state wanted the chief minister to contest from their seats, Naveen opted for Kantabanji as he was confident that he would win with a record margin.
He also lashed out at BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making false promises before the elections. On the Prime Minister’s promise of raising the MSP for paddy to Rs 3,000 per quintal during his campaign in Balangir, Pandian asked why he could not do anything for the farmers during his 10-year tenure as prime minister.
“It is only at the time of elections that the prime minister speaks about paddy MSP, cold storage and other alluring plans to get the votes of the farmers. On the other hand, the BJD government in Odisha has been standing with the farmers and supporting them in all possible ways,” Pandian said.
