Balangir: BJP National President Amit Shah on Thursday said he had not replied to the media query on the 120 Plus during his visit to Bhawanipatna as he sees even more than this number he had predicted for his party in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Odisha scheduled next year.
I am sure that my party will win more seats in Odisha, even more than the seats it had captured in the Tripura Assembly elections recently. I am telling this on the basis of the massive turnout of the people here,” Shah said while addressing a mammoth meeting here.
Expressing grave concern over the hooliganism of the ruling BJD, the BJP leader came down on chief minister Naveen Patnaik saying he has been using the criminals against the BJP workers and leaders and in return, giving them adequate protection.
“Since last 18 months, more than 14 BJP activists have been killed. But the assailants are moving freely as the police has not taken any action against them for obvious reasons. Let me tell you, Mr Chief Minister, if the BJP comes to power, it will trace out the killers wherever they are hiding and give them the justice they thoroughly deserve,” Shah asserted.
Citing instances of discrimination of the BJD government to the people of western Odisha, he said while the ruling government has managed to created a meagre 33 percent of irrigation network during its 18-year rule, the share of western Odisha is only 11 percent.
Earlier in the day, Shah while on the way to Balangir, had a halt at the fluoride-affected Beniabandh village in Saintala block where he reviewed the tube wells in the area.
Talking to media persons, he criticised the apathy of the state government in resolving the perennial problems in these areas of the district and its gross inaction in supplying fluoride-free drinking water.
He assured that his government would take immediate steps and construct a check dam across nearby river from where it would supply drinking water to the people of this area.
From there, Shah accompanied by Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram, leader of the BJP legislature party KV Singhdeo, Sugyani Kumari Singhdeo and BJP state unit president Basant Panda visited the house of Maheswar Suna at Harijan Pada in Deogaon and had their lunch.
