BHUBANESWAR: The BJD and BJP traded charges against each other over postponement of a proposed visit of members of women's self-help groups (SHGs) to Dubai ahead of the ensuing elections.
While BJD leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sulata Deo blamed Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for postponement of the visit by the SHGs, the BJP accused the ruling party of questioning the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Deo told mediapersons here that a group of SHG members was to proceed on a visit to Dubai as part of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s vision for empowerment of women to give them global exposure. However, the move was scuttled as the union minister moved a petition before the ECI on March 27 following which the proposed visit was deferred, she added.
Criticising the union minister and BJP for working against the interest of women, Deo said several women from Sambalpur, from where the union minister is seeking election to Lok Sabha, were also slated to visit Dubai as part of the programme. She alleged that the union minister is putting hurdles in the way of empowering and skilling women in the state because of intolerance and said the people of Odisha will give a fitting reply to him in the upcoming polls.
Refuting the allegations as false and misleading, BJP state secretary Kasturi Mishra said the BJD MP made baseless claims by suppressing facts. The BJD leader should have stated that the proposed visit of SHG women was to be funded by OTDC.
Stating that the move to send the SHG women to Dubai ahead of the elections was against the model code of conduct laid down by the ECI, the BJP leader said the ECI got the programme postponed after it learnt about it.