KENDRAPARA: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said voters of Patkura will create history by electing BJP candidate Bijay Mohapatra to the State Assembly.
Addressing an election meeting at Garadapur during his whirlwind campaign in the constituency which will go to polls on July 20, Pradhan said Bijay has enormous support of people and this will be properly channelised by the workers of BJP in the poll. He said Bijay is a popular leader in Patkura and is known for the development works he had undertaken during his tenure as a minister in the State.
Pradhan said no allegation of corruption has been levelled against the Modi Government. “The Prime Minister has been working tirelessly for the welfare of people,” he said.
Pradhan said in the 2000 elections, Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik had betrayed Bijay by denying him party ticket at the last moment from Patkura even as the latter was one of the founding members of the BJD and was instrumental in bringing Naveen to politics. “Now the time is ripe for the voters of Patkura to teach a lesson to Naveen by electing Bijay to the State Assembly,” he said.
BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi too addressed several meetings in Patkura and said the NDA Government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is providing financial assistance to self-help groups in the State for upliftment of women. She said during campaigning for the General Elections, the Chief Minister had promised to release the second instalment of funds under KALIA scheme but now the State Government is not in a position to do so. Sarangi said the voters of Patkura will teach Naveen a lesson as he has betrayed the poor farmers of Odisha.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, around 200 BJD supporters joined the BJP at Gualsingh village in the presence of BJP MP Basant Panda and other party leaders.