Bhubaneswar: Union home minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Wednesday attacked Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik by accusing that the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government headed by him very tactfully stopped the people of the state from participating in Prana Pratishta Utsav of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya’s Ram Temple on January 22.
He asserted that people of Odisha will not forgive Naveen Patnaik for his “misdemeanour” and vote him out of power this time.
“When the whole world was celebrating the Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla, Naveen Babu very cunningly deprived them of the opportunity to be part of this festival. This is a sheer act of ungratefulness,” Shah said while addressing a grand public rally at Soroda in Ganjam district.
Shah, as per political experts, hinted at the BJD government celebrating Jagannath Parikrama Pakalpa, a renovation programme of Lord Jagannath temple’s courtyard in Puri, in a grand style, — apparently to divert the attention of Odisha people from all the euphoria that was created around the Prana Pratishta Utsav.
The home minister also castigated the ruling BJD for not the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat healthcare programme saying CM Naveen Patnaik denied the scheme to people of Odisha fearing that it will account for rise in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity in the state. He also took a potshot at the BJD for rebranding the free rice provided by the Centre to the poor in the state.
“Naveen Babu! You have pushed Odisha backward by 25 years. People of Odisha have decided to say ‘Bye-bye, Tata, Goodbye’ to you. You cannot any longer cheat them. Odisha will have a new government after the elections and an Odia will become the chief minister of the state,” declared Shah.
The home minister, while questioning the state government on its silence over the missing of Lord Jagannath’s Ratna Bhandar keys, assured that the Narendra Modi government will ensure that the persons responsible for missing of the keys are brought to book and punished.
He also told the people that the patrons of chit fund scamsters who have looted Odisha people to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore will also be strictly dealt with.
The BJP stalwart said there had been a complete halt in extremism and Maoist activism in the country due to strong leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Earlier, we used to see bloodshed caused by the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. After Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre, he challenged them and destroyed the enemy camps in Pakistan soil. Now, bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir has stopped and Maoist activities have also come to an end,” said Shah.
Later in the evening, Shah held a roadshow in Cuttack city seeking votes for the party's Lok Sabha candidate Bhartruhari Mahtab and MLA candidates.
