With talks of early general elections in the air, both the BJD and the Congress have gone into the poll mode with earnestness. After rally politics, it is now ‘yatra’ time. So, a buoyed Congress on Tuesday began its ‘Parivartan Yatra’ from Cuttack with party leaders giving a clarion call to oust the BJD from power.
The BJD too showed it is no way behind. Already in the firing line for long, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik embarked on ‘padyatra politics.’ For over a week, party leaders would be walking the dingy roads in the villages and lanes and bylanes in the towns to trumpet the ‘good work’ done by the Government.
Not to be outdone by the Congress trying to corner Naveen over a number corruption charges, the BJD also has prepared a ‘scam list’ of UPA II to be distributed among the people.
The pet theme of the BJD has been Central neglect and UPA scams __ from coalgate to 2G. Naveen on Tuesday made it clear that Central discrimination would be the campaign ‘mantra’ of the party and said the people would not tolerate if such neglect continued.
Naveen also took time to launch yet another populist scheme __ bicycles for BPL schoolboys.
For its part, the Congress wanted to keep up the anti-government mood post-September rally, and launched its ‘Parivartan Yatra’ from Swaraj Ashram in Cuttack. Party leaders gathered in strength at the launch and targeted the ‘all pervasive corruption’ by the Naveen Patnaik Government. The ‘yatra’ will continue for eight days to end on October 9, the birth anniversary of Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das, at Bakul Ban of Sakshigopal.
The Congress is doing all to reinvigorate its party activists and build up a tough fight in the run-up to the elections to end the BJD regime.