ROURKELA: President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Patnaik on Friday lambasted the BJP government at the Centre for failing to deliver on its promises and also took a dig at the ruling BJD in the State for not opposing the policies of the Centre.
Talking to mediapersons at Rourkela, Patnaik said he was visiting Sundargarh to strengthen the Congress at the grassroots and prepare the action plan for 2024 general elections to fight the BJD and BJP. The Congress has given the call of ‘9 to 90’ to increase the party’s MLA strength in Odisha from nine to ninety in 2024, the OPCC chief said.“The Narendra Modi-led government came to power on the promises of two crore jobs for youths, Rs 15 lakh to all households and to control prices. However, it failed to deliver on the promises,” he alleged.
“The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD has been ruling Odisha for 22 years including nine years in coalition with the BJP. The BJD government has never spoken against the Modi government not even when GST was imposed on food commodities. Despite unprecedented hike in prices of petroleum products and food commodities including edible oil, there was no voice of protest from the Naveen-led government. Naveen Patnaik has failed Odisha and made it a poor State,” Patnaik claimed.
Stating that nationwide efforts are underway to strengthen the Congress, he asserted that there was no division in the party’s Odisha unit. Congress would put up a united fight in the State. Patnaik arrived on a two-day visit to Sundargarh district and Rourkela on Thursday. He held several rounds of meeting with party workers and functionaries at Rourkela, Rajgangpur and Sundargarh town before leaving for Deogarh district on Friday evening.