Bhubaneswar: The Congress on Sunday reiterated that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government has a tacit understanding with the BJD.
“The Prime Minister, on the pretext of attending the Krushak Samavesh at Bargarh, had in fact, visited Odisha to ensure coordination between the BJP and the BJD. He has dashed the hopes of the people as well as the farmers of the state”, senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra told the media here.
He said the Prime Minister, to the utter disappointment of the farmers, neither announced a package for them which they were aspiring for and nor uttered a single word against the state government.
“This clearly shows that the BJP has a tacit understanding with the BJD,” he averred.
With his Bargarh visit, the prime minister till date has visited Odisha thrice. While he was in all praise for chief minister Naveen Patnaik during his visit to Rourkela, he had remained silent while attending the IOCL function at Paradip.
Though these two visits of the Prime Minister were official, his Bargarh visit was an exclusive party programme of the BJP. It was expected that he would take a dig at the state government, which he did not do.
Besides, during his visit to the state last year to attend the party’s Maha Sangram programme, BJP National President Amit Shah had preferred not to criticise the state government as much it was expected. Moreover, while there is a series of visit of several Union ministers to the state, none of these ministers have raised the issue of the failure of the state government.
Refuting the allegations of Mishra, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said the BJP had alleged on the same issue during the visit of Congress high command Sonia Gandhi to Odisha during the tenure of the UPA government. Now the Congress has followed the same suit during the visit of Narendra Modi to Odisha.
“This gives a clear indication that the Congress and the BJP are used to such absurd statements without properly performing their party homework,” he pointed out.
Criticising Modi, BJD spokesperson Sashi Bhusan Behera said the drought-hit farmers of Odisha had hoped that the Prime Minister would announce a special package for them.
“But it never happened. The Prime Minister, during his speech, gave no indication of any such package for them,” he observed.
In his statement, BJP state president Basant Panda said Odisha has huge water, mineral and natural sources. In spite of this, Odisha is still a poor state.
“This is what the BJD and the Congress should know. Going by their statements, it is obvious that they do not know the meaning of self-introspection,” he noted.