Elections 2019: BJP, BJD match blows with counter campaigns

Bhubaneswar: As the battle of ballots is approaching nearer, all the major parties are trying to outrun each other in the run up to the general elections heating up the political temperature in Odisha. The political atmosphere is increasingly getting turbulent amid intensified exchange of allegations and counter allegations between the BJP, BJD and the Congress.

While the BJP trained guns on the ruling-BJD alleging 19 years of misrule and launched a campaign named 'Jabab Maguchi Odisha,' the ruling party accused the saffron party of step-motherly treatment towards Odisha and launched 'Haak Maguchi Odisha' campaign. However, Congress said that it is the responsibility of both the State and the Central governments to resolve issues plaguing people, but both the BJD and the BJP are allegedly fooling people to protect their vested interests.

"We had been demanding minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,930 per quintal of paddy, but the Centre betrayed the people of Odisha. It (BJP) has been indifferent to Odisha, so the youths of the State are now demanding their rights from the Centre," said senior BJD leader, Prasanna Acharya.

Odisha BJP vice-president Samir Mohanty alleged that people of Odisha are now seeking answers from BJD for its 19 years of apathy. "Farmers want answer as to why the Odisha government failed to make water available to their farmland. Youths are seeking answer for the lack of employment opportunities in the State. Without answering these questions, the BJD has launched another drama," said Mohanty.

Odisha Congress, on the other hand, said that neither the BJD nor the BJP is sensitive towards people's issues and rather both are intentionally engaged in diverting the attention of people to hide their failures. "The BJP leaders were once demanding CBI inquiry into the chit fund and mining scams, but now they are mum," said senior Congress leader, Panchanan Kanungo.

Meanwhile, political experts believe that the poll results will remain unpredictable. "It all depends on people to decide who they want, but they must first brood upon who had promised what prior to the elections and whether those promises were kept or not. Based on that comparison only, people need to decide," said senior journalist, Rabi Das.