BHUBANESWAR/PURI: Making a departure from the usual speeches by political leaders, chief minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik today asked the partymen to lead a simple life and serve the people.
Addressing the 2oth foundation day celebrations of the BJD at Puri, the chief minister said, “I want simple living and high thinking should be our goal.” Simplicity has its own power which connects to masses, he said and added, “Power, prestige and property have no value compared to love you get from people.”
“I want you (BJD leaders) to remain simple and serve people with sympathetic attitude,” Naveen said and added, “People are our ultimate master. So serve them with all humility.” He said that BJD leaders and workers should not talk much, they should work hard to retain the confidence of people.
"Fulfil the promises given to the people to gain their confidence," he said.
The chief minister said service is always greater than power and is a noble quality.
"The success of the last 20 years has created new challenges before the BJD. We will have to overcome the challenges to make Odisha the number one state in the country," he said.
“My political career started in 1997 as a member of Lok Sabha from Aska. Since then, I have dedicated my life for the welfare of the people and development of Odisha,” he said.
Addressing the function, senior leaders of the party, however, lashed out at the Centre for ignoring the state's demands.
Stating that there will be no compromise with the interests of Odisha, they announced that the BJD's fight over the Mahanadi river water dispute, Polavaram dam issue and increase in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy will continue.
Stating that the priority before the party and government has always been the development of Odisha, they said Odisha has surged forward in all sectors during the 17-year rule of BJD.
The BJD also referred to the success of the state government in tackling natural disasters including cyclones like Phailin which brought laurels for the state. Besides, the state government also successfully organised Asian Athletics Championships at Bhubaneswar in a very short notice, they said and added transparency and honesty have remained the foundation stones of the government.
Party leaders Bhatruhari Mahatab, Prasanna Acharya, Pratap Deb, Baijayant Panda, Maheswar Mohanty, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Snehangini Chhuria, Pramila Mullick, AU Singhdev, Debasis Samantray, Tathagat Satpathy, Pinaki Mishra, Debasis Nayak, Atanu Sabyasachi Naik, Arun Sahu, Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, MPs and MLAs addressed the meeting which was attended by more than 30,000 party workers and elected representatives of the BJD.