Indus Valley Times

By Sukanta Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 28: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Jagat Prasad Nadda on Wednesday fired salvos at Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik saying the latter had deprived over 60 lakh people in Odisha of the benefits of Ayushman Bharat Yojana and failed to check increasing human trafficking, especially women and children.

“It’s quite shocking that while 50 crore people in other parts of the country are availing healthcare benefits under Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has deprived them by not implementing it. This shows his narrowness,” said Mr Nadda while addressing public rallies at Tumudibandh in Kandhamal and Banapur in Khurda districts.

Observing that such an “insensitive government” had no right to continue in power, he exhorted party workers to overthrow the BJD rule in 2024 by overwhelmingly voting for the BJP.

Quoting figures of National Bureau of Crime Records (NRCB), the BJP president said the BJD’s claim of women empowerment was a “hollow assertion” as the state topped the list of atrocities on women.

“The crime against women has doubled in Odisha in the past few years. Human trafficking has also increased in recent times. Criminals are calling the shots here. Even police personnel are not being spared by the criminals and anti-socials. This speaks of the efficiency of the Naveen Patnaik government,” said the BJP chief.

He questioned as to how the keys of Lord Jagannath’s Ratna Bhandar jewellery storeroom got lost.

“How come the keys of Ratna Bhandar which has jewellery worth over several hundred crores go missing? Shouldn’t the CM be held accountable for this?” asked Mr. Nadda.

He listed the Central educational institutes, projects and financial assistance and annual railway allocations that Odisha got from the Narendra Modi government.

“Odisha has got a branch of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar, Indian Institute of Management at Sambalpur and many Central educational institutes during the BJP government. On the other hand, Naveen Patnaik has failed to establish its much touted Odia University that it promised five years ago. In fact, what is happening here? Who is running the administration – Naveen Patnaik or some other person,” he questioned.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, while taking a swipe at the chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s assertion that his party BJD would rule the state for 100 more years, said, “This reflected the CM’s egoistic character.”

“When a person continues in power for a long period, he becomes egoistic and loses his senses. However, God does not tolerate anyone’s ego and audacity,” said Mr Pradhan.

BJP vice president Baijyant Panda and Odisha in-charge D. Purandeswari equated Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik with Mahabharat’s Dhritarashtra and maintained that the time had come for the end of the latter’s rule.