Naveen Patnaik Counters BJP’s No. 1 State Promise, Says Odisha People Are Laughing At Them

Bhubaneswar: As war or words intensified between Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during poll campaign, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik targeted visiting saffron party leaders for making promises to the people of Odisha.

Taking a dig at BJP leaders visiting Odisha for electioneering, the BJD president claimed that people are laughing at them for their promise to make the state number one.

In a video message in English, the BJD supremo said that Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chief Ministers and Central Ministers are coming and promising to make Odisha the number one state in India.

“I think they should concentrate on their own states first. The Assam chief minister who has been here also promised to make Odisha the number one,” Naveen said in the video message, which was released to the media on Saturday.

Taking a swipe at Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJD chief said that Assam’s per capita state deficit is double that of Odisha.

“He should really look into matters of his own state,” Naveen said, adding that the people of Odisha are laughing at them.

Notably, a number of BJP stalwarts, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, have been touring the state and addressing election rallies as part of BJP’s campaign blitzkrieg. Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states have also been campaigning in the state.

All of them have been attacking the BJD government in the state and underlining the need for putting in place a double-engine government of BJP in Odisha to make it the number one state in the country.

The BJD supremo had earlier stated that some Chief Ministers and Union ministers come as political tourists only at the time of elections and then they disappear. Their speeches have no effect on the people of Odisha, he said.