Odisha govt's own food security scheme is politically motivated: OPCC chief

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik on Tuesday trained his guns on the State government alleging that the ruling BJD is indulged in vote-bank politics and its own food security scheme is a political move to woo voters.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 150th Gandhi Jayanti celebrations at Swaraj Ashram in Cuttack, Patnaik said that neither did the BJP nor the BJD should take credit for the food security programme as it is the brainchild of the UPA government.

"The UPA had started the scheme and ensured subsidised rice to different states at Rs 3-4 only. The State government is making tall claims about its own food security scheme but it is yet to fix the number of beneficiaries to be covered under the programme. All these moves are part of vote-bank politics," said the OPCC chief.

He further said that a slew of schemes were announced by the BJD government in the last couple of months which were all politically motivated. "Schemes were announced for votes only. Don't know if the State has so much money for those schemes. Crores of money of poor people of Odisha are being spent on publicity," alleged Patnaik.

Further lashing out at the BJP government at the Centre, the CM said, "Odisha govt had to come up with its own food security scheme as many people were denied coverage under the National Food Security Act. Empty vessels make the most noise but people know who fulfils promises and who doesn't; we have fulfilled all our promises."