Odisha BJP announces state-wide agitation against 'corruption'

The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday took a dig at the ruling BJD dispensation, alleging that the state government is mired in corruption. 

Addressing a press conference in Bhubaneswar, the state president of the BJP, Manmohan Samal announced that the party will launch an agitation against corruption and gherao all the block offices across the state for five days, starting November 14. 

“The 23-year-old government in the state is mired in corruption. There is no longer a political system in the state. Over the years, corruption spread from panchayats to districts and the practice of 'percentage commissions (PC)' in government work has been normalised. There is no chance of any work getting done without a PC. The hard-earned money of poor people is being misappropriated,” said Samal.

“Recently, 11 members of a Juang family in Keonjhar died due to a lack of drinking water. Even though the central government has sanctioned over Rs 15K crore for mega water supply projects, the state government has failed in supplying drinking water at the doorsteps of people,” he said. 

“During our panchayat-level strike, several facts came to the fore like corruption in the construction of toilets and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. People came out to support us. We came to know about the people’s anger. Keeping their anger in view, we will gherao all the blocks from November 14 till November 18. The central government has given Rs 18.83 lakh crore to the state government during the last nine years. The state government is bound to give the details of how the money has been spent before the elections,” he said. 

While responding to the BJP’s announcement, BJD MLA Amar Satpathy said, “No one is stopping them (the BJP) from launching agitation. They are doing this to keep themselves relevant in panchayats. They are here to advertise themselves in the media. They are not with the people.”