BALANGIR: BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday asserted that the BJP will get bigger mandate in Odisha than Tripura and rewrite the story of development in the State with youths leading the way.
Addressing Yuba Samabesh of the party at Kosal Kala Mandap here on Thursday, Shah said BJD has panicked over rapid rise of the BJP and come down to violence. “Altogether 14 BJP workers have been killed in the State in the last one year and those behind the murders allowed to go scot-free. The BJP will dig out those responsible even if they are in the hell,” he said.
Pointing at the people holding placards demanding separate Koshal State, Shah said the demand has been due to regional imbalance. It is unfortunate that western Odisha has irrigation facility for 11 per cent of cultivable land and its people still drink fluoride laced water. Stating that BJP believes in “Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikash”, Shah promised that regional imbalances would be removed if BJP is voted to power in the State.Maintaining that the golden period of the BJP is yet to come and would come only after it wins Odisha and West Bengal, Shah said development can come when it trickles down to common people which the present BJD Government has failed to do.
On the schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he talked about Skill India, Start Up India, Start Up India and Mudra Yojana. These schemes have generated nine crore jobs while in Odisha 63 lakh youths have been provided `16,835 crore loan, he claimed.The BJP president also spoke about hike in MSP of paddy by 1.5 times though he did not elaborate on the base price on which the MSP would be fixed. In a bid to impress the youths, he said the transformer at Bhubaneswar (Naveen Government) has burnt down and needs to be replaced to set the ball of development rolling.
In his address, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said development of India cannot be realised without development of the east. The Prime Minister is extending all support and help for development and Odisha has become a laboratory for development. While the Centre is pushing through all help, the State Government is unable to take benefit of the support, he added. He claimed that the Union Government is contributing 60 per cent of the cost of Medical College at Balangir.Among others, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, BJP general secretary and Odisha in-charge Arun Singh, Patnagarh MLA KV Singhdeo and former Balangir MP Sangeeta Singhdeo also addressed the gathering.
Earlier, on his way to the venue, Shah reached Belgaon from Bhawanipatna after which he visited village Benabandh and talked about the problem being faced by the villagers. When people complained about physical infirmity due to flouride content in the ground water, he promised that an anicut would be built across river Bagha flowing by the village if BJP comes to power so that drinking water can be provided from there. He also went to Deogaon village where he had lunch in the house of Maheswar Suna along with other BJP leaders.Later, he laid foundation stone at Dummura for 26 BJP offices in 26 districts of the State to be built at a cost of `2 crore each before proceeding to Raipur in Chhattisgarh.