Bhubaneswar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday trained guns at the Odisha government alleging that instead of delegating power to panchayat bodies, the ruling-BJD is centralising all power for vested political interests.
BJP's State unit president, Samir Mohanty lashed out at the Naveen government and said excessive centralisation of power & decision making is not a good sign. He also expressed concerns over the 'centralisation of power in Odisha'.
"Is the ruling-BJD restricting the power of panchayats for its own political interests? Developmental works and projects are being allocated to BJD-affiliated contractors," alleged Mohanty.
The inclusive development vision of Modi government along with the aim to empower the gram panchayats through Gram Vikash is getting affected due to such activities of the State government, he said.
Responding to the allegations, Odisha Labour Minister Sushanta Singh said, "It has become the tendency of the BJP to blame the government without any reason. The saffron party allegations are as usual baseless."
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People have never listened to or believed the false allegations brought by the BJP leaders in the last 20 years, said Singh.
It is worth mentioning that the BJD government in Odisha has decided to celebrate the state level Panchayati Raj Day (March 5), which is also the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik, in a grand manner.
Earlier on Tuesday, the BJP targeted Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over his decision to identify and distribute ‘eligibility cards’ to the beneficiaries of Biju Pucca Ghar yojana and ‘land right certificates’ to Jaga Mission beneficiaries on the occasion of Biju Patnaik’s birth anniversary.
“The State government should clarify whether it’s a party specific programme or a government programme,” said State BJP spokesperson, Golak Mohapatra.
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