BHAWANIPATNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed the Congress and the BJD for keeping Odisha underdeveloped and using poverty as a means to grab power.“The Congress and BJD conspired to prevent the poor from improving their economic standard. They treated the poor as a mere vote bank and betrayed their trust. People will never pardon them,” he said at the Vijaya Sankalp rally here.
Turning up for election campaigning in the State for the second time in four days, Modi started his speech in local dialect, “Mor bhai bahen mane, juhar. Kenta achan? (Namaskar, my brothers and sisters. How are you?).” He then offered tributes to Bhawanishankar Mahadev and Manikewari of Bhawanipatna and martyr Rendo Majhi.
Modi has held two election rallies at Jeypore under Koraput Lok Sabha seat on March 29 and Bhawanipatna under Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday. Both the seats along with Nabarangpur and Berhampur go to polls in the first phase on April 11.
Addressing a huge gathering despite scorching heat, the Prime Minister said, “Congress failed Kalahandi during its regime. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had accepted his Government’s failure. The Congress looted Kalahandi and the country for 70 years in the name of poverty.”Coming down heavily on the Naveen Patnaik Government, the Prime Minister said the mining mafia and chit fund scamsters have thrived in the State under active patronage of the BJD.
Accusing the BJD Government of being neck deep in corruption, Modi said the ruling party is standing like a wall between the welfare schemes of the Centre and the people of Odisha.“Do you want a Government which protects mining mafia and chit fund looters or a chowkidar?,” Modi asked the crowd.
Alleging that the State Government is not cooperating with the Centre to bring speedy development in Odisha, the Prime Minister said it has been a wall between PM-KISAN scheme and the farmers of the State.
“Despite our differences with the BJD, we did our best in launching development projects in the State. This chowkidaar (watchman) has taken advantage of the Centre’s schemes to ensure welfare of the Odias,” Modi said.
Listing his Government’s achievements, the Prime Minister said the NDA Government has constructed pucca houses for eight lakh families, provided power connections to 24 lakh homes and gas connection to 40 lakh poor families.
“In the last five years, we have opened bank accounts for 1.4 crore people, built toilets in 50 lakh houses and ensured women’s safety and security,” he said.“Without taking leave for a single day in the last five years, I worked diligently to bring about a transformation in the country. It was possible because people supported me. The credit for the transformation of the country goes to the people of the country,” Modi said.Prominent leaders of BJP including Dharmendra Pradhan, Baijayant Panda and Dr Damodar Raut also spoke at the meeting.