Bhubaneswar: Blaming Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for Odisha’s backwardness, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the regional party failed to ensure development though it enjoyed power in the state for over 20 years.
Addressing a public meeting in Bhubaneswar after launching developmental projects worth Rs 3,275 crore, the Union Minister also lashed out at Congress, accusing it of indulging in negative politics in the country.
Mounting a scathing attack on Naveen Patnaik-led BJD, Shah claimed that the previous government stalled the development of Odisha and did little to promote the cooperative sector and dairy industry in the state.
The senior BJP leader said that due to the blessings of the people, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured victory in all 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The present government has shown a new direction for development and empowered citizens, while India is now emerging as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, he said.
Shah’s attack came a day after opposition BJD and Congress jointly fielded a common candidate in a seat from the state in the Rajya Sabha elections to thwart the victory of the BJP nominee.
Accusing the grand old party of indulging in negative politics, Shah cited a recent “shirtless protest” by Youth Congress workers at a recent AI summit
in New Delhi, in which representatives from 80 countries, including 20 heads of nations, had participated.
“When the whole world was lauding India’s work in the field of artificial intelligence, Congress leaders made a motivated attempt to defame the country by removing their shirts in public,” Shah added.
Officials said 69 projects worth Rs 1,159.03 crore were inaugurated and foundation stones of 130 projects worth Rs 2,116.06 crore were laid by Shah during his visit.
The Home Minister launched several important initiatives related to the cooperative sector at the IDCO Exhibition Ground, Unit-III in Bhubaneswar. These included the release of the State Cooperative Policy, signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a School under Tribhuvan Cooperative University, an MoU for the revival of Badamba Sugar Industries, and the dedication of 1,567 Common Service Centres operated by PACS/LAMPS.
In addition, the programme included the virtual inauguration of need-based infrastructure for 141 PACS, launch of the RCS Office Portal, digital launch of the Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) portal of National Cooperative Organics Limited, and the launch of “Coop Marque” developed by National Cooperative Exports Limited as well as “Savidya”, an AI-enabled multilingual digital learning platform.
Initiatives related to OMFED were presented during the programme to strengthen the dairy sector, and registration certificates will be distributed to two milk producer cooperative societies.
Grants were also released to beneficiaries under the Chief Minister Kamdhenu Yojana, and an MoU will be signed with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for the upgradation of a Training and Demonstration Centre.