Bhubaneswar: In a statement which could spell more trouble for the ruling BJD, senior party leader and Excise minister Damodar Rout on Wednesday said, the farmers are using agriculture loans for the marriage of their daughters. He too went on to say the major pie of the loan amount is spent on consuming alcohol.
Rout was talking to media after Agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy informed the newsmen that Chief minister Naveen Patnaik was considering waiving off farm loans in the State.
“Farmers are taking agriculture loans. But unfortunately they are using the amount to marry off their daughters. It is also observed that they consume alcohol from the loan amount,” Rout stated. He mentioned that a farmer never commits suicide, unless a ‘very adverse situation’ prompts him to do so.
Asked about Union Minister Jual Oram’s statement that BJD leaders including some MPs and MLAs are in talks to join the saffron party, Rout hinted in affirmative about the possibility.
‘’There are some ‘BJP loyalists’ in BJD. How can we deny such developments? Everybody knows the May 21, 2012 coup bid. Surprisingly people who had gone against CM Naveen Patnaik, are now safe in BJD...Naveen is my ideal and I will be loyal to him forever,” Rout said.
However, the Paradip legislator was sarcastic about the party affairs post panchayat elections. He criticised the party for not holding a review meet to analyse the poll debacle. “Where is the party meeting after panchayat polls? The party president along with other party functionaries must have done that to review where we faltered,” he said.