BJP Announces To Oppose CM’s Visit To Western Odisha Tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: The BJP on Saturday announced that it would stage protests during the visit of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to western Odisha.

Speaking to media persons in Bhubaneswar, former MLA and state president of Krushak Morcha Pradip Purohit said during the two-day visit of the chief minister to Bargarh Nuapada and Kalahandi, the BJP will hold protest against the state government’s anti-farmer policy.

He said the chief minister had announced at a public meeting in Sohela of Bargarh in 2016 that the government would pay a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal of paddy to the farmers and allocate Rs 35,000 crore for development of western Odisha. “Even as those promises remain unfulfilled, the chief minister is set to announce fresh assurances in Bargarh tomorrow. He has to first clarify about his earlier pledges before making further announcements,” the BJP leader said.

He further said the chief minister is going to inaugurate Sohela-Nuapada stretch of the Biju Expressway for second time only to take the credit whereas the National Highway has been constructed entirely with the Central funds. It would be another example of the BJD government’s misleading claims, he added.

Purohit also questioned the chief minister about his promise of irrigation to farmland in Bijepur through Gangadhar Meher project from Hirakud Dam by 2022.

Stating that the BJD is a party of false promises and zero achievement, the BJP leader said his party would stage protests at all the meeting of the chief minister during his visit to western Odisha.