BHUBANESWAR: BJD president and leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik on Friday said the BJP government has tarnished Odisha’s image through a series of failures stemming from its incompetence over the last two and a half years.
Addressing a public meeting during the BJD’s Jana Sampark Padayatra in the Bhubaneswar North Assembly constituency, the former chief minister claimed Odisha had emerged as a model state for rapid development during the BJD’s tenure from 2000 to 2024. However, the double-engine government failed to sustain the progress, he added.
The leader of the Opposition urged party workers to take the message of the double-engine government’s failures to every household and raise awareness about the issue. Paying tribute to Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das on his 149th birth anniversary, Naveen said the BJD believed in service and development.
This was the second time in the last one week that the BJD president had participated in the Jana Sampark Padayatra in Bhubaneswar. Launching the padayatra from the Ekamra Assembly constituency on October 2, Naveen had accused the BJP government of protecting the interests of mine owners instead of fighting for people’s rights. He opposed the MMDR Amendment Act, 2026, alleging that it deprived Odisha of its rights over mineral-bearing land. The BJD has opposed the new law, alleging it would deprive the state of Rs 1 lakh crore in revenue. The party has been demanding its repeal and organised a rally in Bhubaneswar during the monsoon session of the Assembly.
The BJD leaders are also highlighting alleged large-scale errors in school textbooks, the deletion of over 27 lakh eligible voters from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the deterioration of the law and order situation, senior vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra said.