Bhubaneswar: Keeping an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha and Odisha Assembly elections, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as well as opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress are now leaving no stone unturned to woo the women voters in the state.
With all the three major political parties looking at women as vote bank, Congress on Sunday lashed out at both BJD and BJP accusing them of betraying the women.
Senior Congress leader and Odisha MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said that women in the state are fed up with the BJD government due to increasing atrocities on them.
Speaking to the media, Bahinipati said official statistics show that six to seven rape cases are being reported every day in Odisha despite tall claims by the BJD government about safety and security of women in the state.
Stating that Odisha occupies the second position in atrocities on women after Uttar Pradesh which tops the list, the Congress leader said conviction rate in rape cases is only six per cent.
Taking population into consideration, one can say that Odisha has the dubious record of having highest number of cases of atrocities on women, he claimed.
However, the BJD government has been misleading people by making false claims about empowerment of women, Bahinipati said.
Claiming that women in Odisha have never been with BJP, he said now they have come to know that BJD has all along been betraying women by making false claims. Women are now aware of the fact that BJP and BJD are two sides of a coin, he said.
Therefore, all women in Odisha have now decided to help Congress in the upcoming elections, the Congress legislator said.
