Potato Mission will be successful in Odisha: CM

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi on Saturday asserted that the Potato Mission, which failed during the BJD rule, will be successful in the coming days. 

Chief Minister Majhi attended a function at the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT). While addressing the gathering, he made an appeal to the scientists to help make the mission successful. 

If the mission is successful, there would be no scarcity of potatoes and no dependency on other states, he said. 

“I have appealed to the scientists of the OUAT to join hands in making the Potato Mission successful. The government has started working on developing infrastructure. Different missions like the Potato Mission, Onion Mission and Jackfruit Mission, which failed in the time of the previous government, will be successful in the coming days. There would be no pressure from other states,” he said.

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He held the previous BJD government responsible for the potato crisis the state witnessed recently. 

He also took a swipe at the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, accusing it of creating the potato shortage in Odisha. 

"At the NITI Aayog meeting, I had asked Mamata Banerjee to supply the required quota of potatoes to us. But she stopped the supply after some time. Later, she bowed down before the pressure of the farmers of her state and resumed the supply. But by that time, the government had already decided to procure potatoes from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. So, even though she wanted to speak with me, I didn’t speak with her," the CM said. 

BJD MLA Arun Sahoo said, “If they solve the problem by producing potatoes and without importing even a single truck from outside in the five years, then we will know that you are the guardian of ‘Odia Asmita’.”

No reactions were received from the West Bengal government.