Odisha ruled by bureaucratic government with BJP’s ‘gathbandhan’: Congress’ Ajoy Kumar

The Odisha Congress Committee on Sunday trained guns on both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) at a press meet in Bhubaneswar.

Ajoy Kumar, newly appointed Odisha-in-charge of Congress and OPCC President Sarat Pattanayak made a veiled attack on both Naveen Patnaik and PM Modi as they sharpened their strategy for the upcoming 2024 General Elections.

Taking a dig at Naveen Patnaik, Kumar said in Hindi, “Bahar ke log Odisha par Bhari hain’. Quoting Abraham Lincoln’s Government of the People, by the People and for the People, he stated, ‘Odisha should be of Odias, by Odia,s and for Odias.’

He called upon the people of Odisha to throw out ‘outsiders’ and save the state and highlighted how Naveen had turned Odisha into a poor state by giving away the mining and other sectors in the hands of ‘outsiders’. 

“Doesn’t Odisha have talented MP, MLA, or leaders that Naveen Patnaik is giving the power to an outsider? Why are contracts worth crores being given to outsiders? Most importantly, the mining and other sectors have also been handed over to outsiders. This is why Odisha is still counted as the poorest state as all the money is going outside,” Kumar added.

He continued, “Odisha government is a bureaucratic government with BJP’s ‘gathbandhan’. This is the reason there is no ED, or CBI raid here. Mr. Patnaik is carrying out rampant corruption and Modi ensures that there is no ED, CBI or IT raid here.”

Echoing Kumar’s words, Sarat Pattanayak went on to call the BJP and BJD as brothers.

“BJD and BJP are brothers. The conch party has always blindly given consent to BJP every time the saffron party passes any bill. They never cared if the bill was for the betterment of the citizens or not. Their only intention is to turn the country poor and rule us forever by giving free ration,” Sarat Pattanayak stated.

“Lakhs of posts are lying vacant, but they do not care for employment of youths. They launch schemes after schemes, only to forget their promises thereafter. They have got the best certificates for ‘highest farmer suicides’,” he added.

Continuing his attack, he further stated, “They do not know anything about the history of Odisha. They have forgotten Odisha’s roots, pride, honour, traditions. The Naveen government is clearly against farmers, women, students, daily labourers and youths. Only thing they know is scams such as the mining scam, chit fund scam, sand scam, water scam, land scam, job scam etc.”

He further stated that the BJP and BJD had joined hands for the 2024 General Elections and called upon the people of Odisha and India to bring a wave of change and vote for Congress.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Pradipta Nayak lambasted Ajoy Kumar and Sarat Pattanayak for their ‘BJP and BJD are brothers’ comment.

“Congress has been sold to BJD. It takes money from BJD and loses every election. BJP does not need BJD or Congress to win. We will easily win 15 Lok Sabha seats without any ‘gathbandhan’ with anyone,” Pradipta stated.