BARPALI : Stepping up campaign for BJP candidate Ashok Panigrahi, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan addressed meetings at Tinkani, Telimal, Agalpur and Roxa in Barpali block and attacked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his failure to uplift the backward Bijepur Assembly segment.
Pradhan accused Naveen of deceiving the Assembly segment. “His (Naveen) announcement of personally supervising the development of Bijepur for one year is the biggest deceit,” he said.
Questioning the CM for not developing Bijepur in the the last 18 years, the Union Minister said that prolonged neglect of the region has compounded the problems of the area and its people. “Sensing defeat, Naveen is using police as ‘goonda’ to manipulate victory and the district administration is working day and night to ensure win of BJD. Even State Election Commissioner Surendra Kumar is also working on the CM’s behest,” Pradhan alleged.
Condemning the incident in which a youth hurled shoes at Naveen during a public meeting in Kumbhari village on Tuesday, Pradhan said it was unfortunate that without investigating the matter, police were quick to claim that the accused belong to BJP.