BHUBANESWAR: BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda on Tuesday asked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to explain why Odisha is lagging behind many states even after he ruled the state for nearly 25 years uninterruptedly.
Lashing out at the chief minister for keeping the state poor despite abundant resources, Panda said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi made India the fifth largest economy within 10 years. The next target of Modi is to make it the third largest economy in the world. The chief minister owes an explanation to the people as to why he failed to lift the state to fifth position in the country even after staying in power for a quarter century.”
Panda who is contesting from Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat said the Prime Minister has rightly pointed out that massive corruption, bribery and PC culture are the major impediments in the path of progress. A change of government in the state has become inevitable to steer it into the path of rapid economic progress.
He said the farmers of the state are the worst-affected in the BJD regime due to its anti-farmers policies. While the BJD has miserably failed to fulfill it’s promise to provide assured irrigation to at least 35 per cent agricultural land in each block of the state, the farmers continue to sustain huge loss in the absence of cold storages.
Touching five points of the BJP manifesto, Panda said his party will keep it’s promise of constructing 75,000 km new roads, develop industrial corridor linking Sambalpur, Rourkela, Dhamra and Paradip, fill up 65,000 out of 1.5 lakh vacant posts in the first two years.
Responding to a query on 5T chairman VK Pandian’s assertion that BJD CM will take oath on June 9, Panda said, only two people cannot make government by travelling in a helicopter.