BJD & Cong Used Poor As ‘Vote Bank’ In Odisha: PM Modi

Bhawanipatna: Prime Miniser Narendra Modi on Tuesday fired a fresh salvo at the ruling BJD in Odisha as well as the Congress, accusing them of “conspiring” against the poor and betraying their faith and trust.

“The two parties used the poor and farmers in the state as ‘vote bank’ and later betrayed them after coming to power. Large numbers of people are migrating to other states in search of work. Will you pardon them?” he questioned and soon followed a thunderous “no” from the crowd.

The ruling party is also posing obstacles in implementation of the centrally-sponsored programmes for poverty alleviation, he added.

Addressing a public rally here, Modi reminded the gathering about former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s famous speech in Kalahandi, where he had said that only 15 paise of Re 1 reaches the poor, and questioned the Congress as to “why the party not cure it” despite being aware of the “ills”.

“I assure you that if BJP comes to power in Odisha, we will work to improve the condition of the poor. What they could not achieve in 70 years, we will do it in 5 years,” he said.

Listing out welfare measures initiated by his government, Modi said: “My government has ensured that if we spent Rs 100, all of it reached the intended beneficiaries”.

This is the first time in 23 years when a PM visited the district and addressed a public meeting.

On March 28, addressing a rally in Koraput, Modi had torn into the BJD dispensation, accusing it of failing to address the issues of the poor in the state and offering resistance in the implementation of the centrally-sponsored programmes.

Targeting the Naveen Patnaik government once again here, he said the government “does not move at all. “It is posing obstacles to central schemes. While farmers across the country have started getting money under the PM-Kisan, this government has come in the way of implementing it in the state. None of the farmers from Odisha has benefited from it,” he said.

“Had we been elected to power in the state in the 2014 polls, today Odisha would have been far ahead of others in development,” he added.

He accused the state government of promoting mining mafias and those involved in the chit fund scam and asked the voters to decide whether they want a government who patronizes them or a “madadgaar chowkidar”.

Modi said his government has weeded out eight crore middlemen from the public distribution system, who were availing subsidies through fake ration cards. “This has immensely benefited poorer families. The grand alliance partners, however, saw it as a threat to their existence and therefore have joined hands to dethrone the BJP government. They will never be successful in their mission,” he added.