Bhubaneswar: Mounting a stinging attack on Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday alleged that law and order machinery has crumbled in the state.
Addressing a programme at the state BJP headquarters in Bhubaneswar, Dharmendra accused the BJD leaders of being arrogant, and said people of the state would teach them a lesson for working against democratic norms.
Coming down heavily on the BJD government over Mamita Meher murder case, the BJP leader claimed that senior officers and leaders of the ruling party were involved in exploiting, and killing the girl and then burying her body in a field.
Later, the accused in the sensational murder case was also killed inside the jail, but there is no answer from the government to that, he claimed.
Alleging that police personnel were beaten up inside the police station in Bhatli area of Bargarh district, the Union Education Minister hit out at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Though Naveen is also in-charge of the Home department, he has no answer to the shameful incident, the BJP leader said.
Accusing the ruling BJD of undermining democratic practices, he quoted some people as saying that elected cabinet ministers in the state are made to make arrangements and erect tents for events of “nominated cabinet minister.”
Asserting that people in a democracy will not tolerate arrogance, Dharmendra said from Ravana to Kansa and Duryodhan, nobody could survive with arrogance and ego. Time will come when people will teach them a lesson, he said.
Stating that Odisha is among the top three states in atrocities against women, Dharmendra said crimes like murder and kidnapping are headlines of newspapers every day. He wondered whether this is the transformation that Naveen government is speaking about.
Hitting out at the Chief Minister over people migrating to other states in search of jobs, the BJP leader claimed that a large number of youths from CM’s Assembly constituency Hinjili are working in states like Tamil Nadu. He also asked Naveen to swear in the name of God that no one from Hinjili has gone out of Odisha for employment.
The fresh attack by Dharmendra on the state government came a few days after he at the ruling BJD over the supply of free rice to the people. While the Central government has been providing rice free of cost to the people, the state government is taking the credit for it, he had said.
