BJP leader Ramakrushna taunts BJD govt on farmers’ issues

Bhubaneswar: Former Finance minister and senior BJP leader Ramakrushana Patnaik has raised questions about Naveen Patnaik government’s ability to provide better governance to the people of the State.

Speaking to mediapersons at a press conference here today, Patnaik threw caustic remarks at the BJD government and criticised it for its failure in providing better irrigation facilities, paddy storage to farmers. Patnaik held the government accountable for shortage of doctors and unemployment in the State.

Besides, he alleged that the BJD government’s decision to set up the IIM in Sambalpur is a plan to reap electoral harvest in the western part of the State where elections to the urban bodies are going to be held very shortly.

Meanwhile, defending Patnaik’s allegations, BJD spokesperson Samir Das said, “Our party is not doing politics. We were planning to set up the IIM in Bhubaneswar as per Union government’s guidelines. But when (Union Human Resources minister) Smriti Irani wrote to consider Sambalpur as the location of the premier B-school, the chief minister recommended it.”