Way forward take-off from Puri

BHUBANESWAR: Going to polls in less than a year seeking fifth consecutive win, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)’s 20th foundation day celebrations at Puri on Tuesday will deliberate on the way forward for the party when an aggressive BJP is breathing down its neck to achieve party president Amit Shah’s 120+ mission in Odisha.

Though Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik is not expected to announce what course of action the party will follow for the 2019 polls, senior party leaders believe that he will adopt an aggressive stand against the BJP led NDA Government at the Centre over several issues including Odisha’s dispute with Chhattisgarh over Mahanadi river water, the unilateral construction of Polavaram by Andhra Pradesh and rejection of the State’s demand for revision of minimum support price (MSP) on paddy.

The Chief Minister’s stand that there should be better coordination between regional parties to strengthen cooperative federalism has assumed significance. “It is important to have coordination among regional parties for strengthening cooperative federalism,” Naveen said here. Asked whether the BJD would take a lead to unite regional parties to help each other, he said, “As a regional party, we have our own state priorities.” Naveen thanked Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and K Chandrashekar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) for supporting Odisha over the Mahanadi river water dispute with Chhattisgarh and Polavaram issue with Andhra Pradesh, respectively.

Party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Pratap Deb said out of its 20 years, the BJD is in power for 17 years. “The party will discuss its achievement during this period which witnessed spectacular development in all sectors in the State,” he said and added that the party will also deliberate on the challenges which were faced during the period.

Besides, there will be discussion on the way forward for the party and the challenges before it, he said.
Deb, however, dismissed the 20 questions asked by BJP as an act of futility. “Asking questions does not solve any problem. After Gujarat, they (the BJP) must set their house in order instead of questioning us on our achievement,” he said. Besides, Central neglect in different sectors including cuts in the budget of several welfare programmes will be discussed at the meeting.

More than 30,000 delegates are expected to attend the foundation day celebrations. The Chief Minister and party supremo will call upon all the delegates and elected representatives to carry a resolve from Puri to be part in the journey for further development of Odisha.

The CM has written to all the district, block and town presidents of the party to attend the convention. The BJD leaders will also be administered oath to participate in the party’s mission for the development of Odisha.

Naveen flagged off a cycle rally at Naveen Nivas to mark the occasion. The rally started from Cuttack-Choudwar for Puri. Meanwhile, the Cabinet will meet at Puri on Tuesday and is likely to approve some welfare measures. This is for the first time that the Cabinet will meet outside the state capital.