BHUBANESWAR: With opposition political parties and farmers’ organisations mounting pressure on Odisha Government for loan waiver, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is reported to be drawing up a strategy to counter the offensive and keep the ruling BJD’s vote bank intact in the 2019 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
As the three Congress Governments in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and the BJP Government in Assam already announcing loan waivers in the last couple of days, the ruling BJD in the State, which was averse to taking such a decision, finds itself in a piquant situation as opposition Congress and BJP are also going to derive mileage if such a move is announced in Odisha.
Sources said the Government may go in for the creation of new districts to put the opposition political parties on the back foot. As the creation of new districts is a long-standing demand from several areas, the Government is reported to be working out on how to go about the issue and announce it in the new year.
New districts were created in 1993 when late Biju Patnaik was the chief minister and the number of districts in Odisha increased from 13 to 30. However, large districts of the State - Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar remained undivided.
Sources said the Revenue Department has already written to Collectors of several districts over the issue and has sought their report on the viability of creation of new districts. Bangiriposhi, a sub-division in Mayurbhanj, is likely to be announced as a new district. Titlagarh in Balangir is also likely to get the new district tag. There is also a long-standing demand for declaring Rourkela as a new district. Former union minister Dilip Ray, who recently resigned from the BJP, is also steadfast in his demand for declaration of Rourkela as a district.
Sources said the Government is likely to create four new districts, two each from Western and North Odisha. This will be one of the big announcements of the Naveen Patnaik Government before the next Assembly elections in 2019.