BJP and BJD leaders trade barbs during cultural festival in Nabarangpur

A district-level tribal cultural festival in Nabarangpur turned into a political platform on Sunday, as local leaders of the ruling party and Opposition party trained guns at each other over the effectiveness of the government schemes in the region. 

It was the closing ceremony of the district-level tribal cultures’ festival ‘Mandei’ when, on the dais, there were invited guests including Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. When it was the turn of Dabugaon MLA Manohar Randhari, he seized the opportunity to criticise the BJP-led government, highlighting deficiencies in areas such as employment and healthcare.

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“Our district should get Vayu Swasthay Seva (Air Health Services). If provided, our patients can be shifted in helicopter to cities for better health facilities. Not a single rupee of the budget worth Rs 2,65,000 crore we had passed has been spent as yet because the chairman of the District Planning Committee (DPC) is yet to be appointed,” said MLA Randhari.

Referring to mango kernel death issue, he said, “They were forced to consume mango kernel because you stopped their PDS rice for four months. Today, newspapers carried reports about parents selling their children. You should make plans to address these issues and direct the administration to distribute rice before four months.”

BJP MP Balabhadra Majhi opposed Randhri's comments, accusing him of politicising the cultural event. Majhi described Randhri’s critique of the six-month-old government as incredulous. 

“The previous BJD government had announced a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal of paddy at Sohela. But they didn’t pay even 100 paisa. On the other hand, the Mohan Majhi-led government has paid Rs 800. It was in the BJP’s manifesto. I hope, he (Mohan Majhi) will do many more things beyond the manifesto,” Majhi said.  

“He (Manohar Randhari) was speaking about district-level recruitment. But we didn’t stop it. It was stopped during BJD time. I think it is totally injustice to target a six-month-old government,” he added.