Odisha: Sasmit Patra Locks Horns With Dharmendra Pradhan On ‘Unfulfilled Promises’

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s announcement of district status to Padampur within a year sparked off a blame-game between ruling BJD and opposition BJP over “unfulfilled promises” on Sunday.

Addressing a meeting at Jharbandh during his visit to Bargarh, the Chief Minister said necessary measures are being taken to ensure that Padampur is accorded district status within a year. He also targeted Central ministers for several promises before the Padampur by-election and forgetting about those.

This led Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to accuse Naveen of betraying the people by not specifying a definite timeline to make Padampur a district. The BJP leader, in a series of tweets, slammed the chief minister on several issues.

In response to Pradhan’s allegations, BJD MP Sasmit Patra posed a number of questions to the former regarding the promises he had made earlier to the people of Odisha.

“Where is Special Category for Odisha? You mentioned it in your party manifesto while holding it up on April 5, 2014. Before election you promised, after election you forgot,” Patra said.

“You promised Kendu leaf GST withdrawal before Padampur by-poll but after elections forgot. You promised Railways for Padampur in 2018 and Padampur by-poll in 2022, but after elections you forgot,” the BJD leader said.

He also reminded Pradhan of the promise made on doubling the price of paddy procurement before 2014 and 2019 elections. “Whether it’s Kendrapada rail connection or coastal highway or others, many such promises were made by you before elections only to forget after elections,” he added.

Also Read: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik Betrayed Padampur People, Claims Dharmendra Pradhan