Naveen Patnaik Dubs Odisha Budget ‘Name & Colour Changer’ With 80% Schemes Borrowed From BJD

Bhubaneswar: Taking a swipe at the BJP government over its maiden budget, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik on Monday claimed that 80 per cent of the schemes implemented by the BJD regime have been repeated.

Participating in the debate on the state budget for 2024-25 in the Assembly, the BJD president claimed that more than 80 per cent of the budget allocation flows towards the schemes formulated by the BJD government.

Stating that BJP formed government by promising people that they will bring ‘Paribartan’ (change), he said: “After going through the budget documents, “I see ‘Paribartan’ or Change’ – This government has changed the names of 45 schemes.”

BJP had stated their government will be a game changer but unfortunately has ended up being a ‘name changer’ and a colour changer as this budget saw 80% of our schemes being repeated, Naveen claimed.

“It shows the robustness, pro-people and progressive character of the schemes designed and implemented by the BJD government. The rest 20% resource allocation is what they will use to implement their manifesto promises to the people of Odisha,” the LoP said.

Referring to the promises made in BJP manifesto, the BJD chief said Point 29 of the BJP manifesto promised Rs 50,000 to every woman of Odisha under ‘Subhadra’ scheme.

Noting that there are more than two crore women in Odisha, he said Rs one lakh crore is needed to fulfil this promise, but only Rs 10,000 crore is provided in this budget. “This will cover less than ten per cent women of Odisha. What about the rest 1.8 crore women? “

Similarly, BJP promised to increase pension to Rs 3,500 per month and there are about 50 lakh pensioners in the state, out of which hardly one lakh pensioners will benefit as per the budget allocation, claimed Naveen.

“You have mentioned in your budget that senior citizens over 80 years of age and persons with 80 percent or more disability will get the enhanced pension amount. What will happen to the rest 49 lakh pensioners between 60 and 80 years of age including widows, PWDs and distressed people? You need about Rs 21,000 crores per year to fulfill this promise,” he said.

BJP promised Rs 3,100 per quintal as MSP for farmers, but the allocation kept in the budget will not be adequate to cover even 30 per cent farmers, Naveen said and asked: “How do you plan to cover the remaining lakhs of farmers of Odisha?”

Stating that BJP had promised 300 units of free electricity in campaign speeches, he said the Central government has planned free electricity for one crore houses for the whole country and  Odisha’s share may be three lakh houses. “We have one and half crore houses in the state. Is this the free electricity you promised to the people? I challenge that in the next five years BJP won’t be able to cover even five percent of Odisha’s population under three hundred units of free Bijli,” the BJD supremo said.

“The way you projected the scheme in social media – people have been waiting for zero electricity bill from July,” he said.

Accusing BJP of having cheated the people of Odisha by promising 25 lakh ‘Lakhpati Didis’ by the year 2027, Naveen said: “You will need about Rs 20,000 crores to implement this. You have allocated only Rs 1000 crores for this,” he said.

Though BJP promised a developed Odisha by the year 2036, the budget document provides Rs 20 crores for industrial corridor connecting Rourkela-Sambalpur-Paradip and Dhamra by June 2027. A corridor like this will not cost less than Rs one lakh crores. “Your party is known for ‘Jumla’, but this is a cruel ‘Joke’ on the people of Odisha to whom you gave the dream of a developed Odisha,” said Naveen

“These are some of the major promises BJP made to win the elections. If you don’t fulfill the promises made to the people, your manifesto and acclaimed guarantee is a bunch of lies. I only hope and pray people don’t think that you won the election through lies and false dreams. This will not be good for our state and our people,” the LoP added.