Pradhan plea a ploy: BJD

BHUBANESWAR:As Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan sought an appointment with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss development of the State, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) alleged that the real motive of the Union Minister is not to discuss ‘development’ but to draw the attention of people.

“The Union Minister wrote the letter to the Chief Minister on June 18 and made it public on June 19,” BJD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Pratap Keshari Deb said and added his allegation that the Chief Minister did not respond to his letter is false. “If Pradhan had commitment for development of the State, he would not have resorted to such cheap politics,” Deb said. Nothing good can be expected from Pradhan whose criticism of the Chief Minister crosses all decency, Deb said and added that the Union Minister is only trying to attract attention of people by talking about development of Odisha. Welcoming Pradhan’s statement that there is great potential of investment in agriculture and fishery sectors from investors in UAE in Odisha, Deb said instead of doing politics over the issue, the Union Minister should have raised the issue through the Ministry of Agriculture.

Stating that there is great discontentment among people of the entire country over hike in the prices of petrol and diesel, Deb advised Pradhan to concentrate in his Ministry and take steps to bring down prices instead of dabbling in other matters. Meanwhile, State secretary of the BJD Bijay Nayak has criticised the Centre for not responding to the demand for according special category State status to Odisha, though the issue has been raised for many years. Stating that unanimous resolutions have been passed in the Assembly twice over the demand, Nayak alleged that no steps have been taken on the issue.