BHUBANESWAR: Hitting out at the BJD Government, national convener of BJP’s membership drive Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said Odisha is still underdeveloped and a majority of its people continue to remain poor under the Naveen Patnaik-led dispensation.“Odisha has remained backwards and poor despite being endowed with abundant resources and its people were suffering as the BJD Government failed miserably to deliver despite being in power for 20 years,” said the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh at a BJP organisational function at Khurda.
On a two-day visit to the State to give a boost to the ongoing membership drive, Chouhan said BJD Government was marked by misrule and corruption as it is ruled by a select few bureaucrats. Dubbing the Naveen Patnaik Government as worst than the previous Congress governments, Chauhan said the incidence of poverty, undernourishment and unemployment in Odisha is high compared to many states.
Taking a jibe at Naveen the BJP leader said, “Even after 20 years of ruling Odisha, Naveen babu cannot speak Odia.”In a stinging attack on the State Government for its poor record in sanitation, Chauhan said Madhya Pradesh is at the top in Swachhata Abhiyan among states and has kept the position at the national level for the past three years.
He also criticised the Chief Minister for depriving people of the State of free health care under Ayushman Bharat scheme. Enrolling some people as members of the party, Chouhan called upon the people to help BJP in fulfilling their aspiration of a ‘New Odisha’. This would be possible by removing the BJD Government and electing the BJP in the next election.