BJD Reminds Congress Of ‘Abysmal’ Growth Rate In Odisha During Its Regime

Bhubaneswar: Hours after AICC president Rahul Gandhi fired salvo at BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, accusing him of running an ‘autocratic’ government and ignoring the farmers, the regional party hit back on Friday reminding it of the sorry state of affairs in Odisha during its regime.

“People of Odisha have not forgotten the golden rule of Congress when the growth rate of Odisha was restricted to 3%. From there on, the growth rate under BJD regime has reached 10% which is higher than the national average,” said BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra.

The BJD spokesperson said that Odisha earlier dependent on other states for its quota of rice. “We not only reached self-sufficiency in rice production by 2007 but also became rice-surplus in 2011 and now the third highest contributor of rice to the PDS system,” he said.

Drawing further comparisons, he said infant mortality rate was the worst in the country during the Congress rule, but today Odisha was doing better than the national average.

“BJD has been demanding Rs 2,930 as minimum support price of paddy and also passed a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha in 2017. Unfortunately, the Congress only spoke of Rs 2,500 as MSP in 2018 and raised it to Rs 2,600 in 2019 as if they are doing some charity,” Patra said.

BJD had been maintaining equidistance between the BJP and Congress and the party’s only alliance was with the people of Odisha and for their development and progress, he added.