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Bhubaneswar: With the BJD intensifying its anti-Centre tirade accusing it of neglecting Odisha, opposition Congress on Monday said the ruling party was trying to "exploit" the sentiments of the people by making such allegations.
"BJD is simply exploiting the sentiment of people by taking name of special category state status for Odisha and alleging Central negligence," Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik told reporters.
Claiming that the BJD's anti-Centre stand would boomerang, Patnaik said there was no justification for blaming the Centre as the Odisha government had allegedly been unable to utilise the funds allocated to it for different purposes.
Patnaik also said it was the Congress Legislature Party which served a notice in the Assembly seeking adoption of a resolution in favour of granting special category state status to Odisha.
"The ruling party later brought another motion by ignoring the notice by Congress MLAs much before," the OPCC president claimed.
Patnaik said Congress MLAs, MPs and leaders would put pressure on the Central government to accord special category status to Odisha.
They have plans to meet the President, Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to see that the status was given to the state.
The Congress leader also rejected Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's claim that the Centre played politics in allocating funds under the Backward Region Grant Fund.
"How can Bihar, ruled by a non-Congress party, could manage to get more allocation than Odisha?" Patnaik asked.
