BHUBANESWAR: Launching a broadside against the ruling BJD for keeping Odisha underdeveloped in the last 17 years, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday appealed to the intelligentsia of the State to support the saffron party in its bid to dislodge the ruling dispensation in the 2019 elections.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has never had the intention for a prosperous Odisha despite its abundant natural resources and huge youth force as his only goal is to stay in power, Shah told a meeting of intellectuals, in presence of Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Dharmendra Pradhan, here.
Explaining the speed at which the Narendra Modi Government is working to bring rapid transformation in the country that was ruined by the Congress-led UPA regime, Shah said, “Naveen Patnaik Government is running like a defunct transformer, while the Modi Government is like a power-house.”
Asserting that development of Odisha is not possible under the BJD, Shah said, in contrast, the BIMARU States have made much progress under the BJP rule. Assuring that his party has the energy and dedication to bring a change, he called upon the people to throw out the incompetent BJD Government in the next election.
Coming down heavily on major political parties for promoting dynastic politics, Shah said, “Neither the Congress nor the BJD has internal democracy. Both the parties are driven by dynastic politics.”
To drive his point home, the BJP chief sought a response from the audience as to who they think will be the president of Congress after Sonia Gandhi. Pat came the reply: “Rahul Gandhi.” However, the audience was silent when he asked to name a person of the BJP to take charge of the party after him. “This is the difference between BJP and other political parties,” he said, adding that merit matters in BJP.
Since people of the country have rejected dynastic politics, major political parties, including the Congress, are getting squeezed providing their space to the BJP to grow exponentially, he maintained.
Exuding confidence that the BJP will win more than 120 Assembly seats in the State much to the chagrin of his opponents, Shah said the Chief Minister will come to realise it only when the results of 2019 election will be out. “When the counting begins after the 2019 elections, BJP will have notched up 120 seats. Naveen would only be watching,” he said.
CM doubts BJP target of winning 120
Bhubaneswar: While BJP president Amit Shah began his three-day visit to the capital city to interact with the office-bearers from booth to State levels to encourage them to work for winning 120 seats in the next Assembly election, Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday expressed doubts over the saffron party’s claim of winning so many seats. “I doubt very much whether they (BJP) will get so many seats,” the Chief Minister told mediapersons replying to a question. However, welcoming the Chief Minister’s doubts over BJP winning so many seats in the 2019 Assembly election, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “the people of Odisha will decide on the issue.”