BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Thursday came down on BJD for questioning the contribution of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to Odisha in the last 10 years.
In a counter to an offensive launched by organisational secretary and BJD nominee for Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat Pranab Prakash Das on his social media handle against Pradhan, BJP MLA from Rengali Nauri Nayak said Nagada malnutrition cases are the best example of the transformation that has occurred in Odisha under the BJD government in the last 25 years.
He said that the tribal families of Nagada village in Jajpur district, infamous for malnutrition deaths of several children, are derived of basic amenities even after eight years. Not only Nagada, a large number of villages of the state do not have basic amenities like roads, drinking water and healthcare. Reports of pregnant women carried in cots to nearest hospitals for delivery are still common.
People are dying due to cholera and diarrhoea as the government has not been able to supply safe drinking water to many households in the state during BJD’s rule for the last 25 years, he added.
Highlighting the contribution of Pradhan for Samablpur as union minister, the Rengali MLA said several new trains including Vande Bharat Express are now passing through the western Odisha district. “Perhaps the BJD leader is blind to the development work undertaken by the Centre in the state. I pray to Maa Biraja to give him (Das) good sense to see the plight of people under the BJD rule,” Nayak said.