'BJD seeking credit for central schemes'

BHUBANESWAR: The BJP's state unit on Sunday announced the launch of a campaign called 'oust Naveen' in villages.

This was decided at a meeting of senior BJP leaders, including mentors or 'palaks' for the 21 Lok Sabha seats, here. "We will raise a war cry to create public awareness against the anti-poor policies of the Naveen government and his attempt to appropriate central schemes as state initiatives," said Pratap Sarangi, a senior BJP leader.

Talking to the media, Sarangi said the state government was cleverly marketing central welfare schemes as initiatives of the Naveen government. "The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is being presented to the people as Biju Awas Yojna. This is a crime," he said.

On the Naveen government's recent decision to roll out a state-specific food security scheme to cover 34 lakh families left out of the National Food Security Act, Sarangi said the government had the discretion to include or exclude beneficiaries from the NFSA. "Instead of doing that, the BJD government has come out with a new scheme to keep its party workers in good humour."

On the state government's decision to not join the Centre's flagship health insurance scheme - Ayushman Bharat - Sarangi said, "The BJD feared the scheme would be immensely popular and harm it politically. For its narrow political interests, the Naveen government announced its own scheme and prevented the people of Odisha from getting the benefits of the central scheme," he said. Sarangi added that the BJD's criticism of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was a reflection of BJD's intolerance towards the popularity of petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra countered Sarangi by saying BJP was making a desperate bid to come to power in Odisha by misleading the people. "The people are with Naveen because of his path-breaking welfare initiatives," he said. "The state government has undertaken several initiatives to cover the people left out of central schemes. Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana is a far better scheme to provide assured healthcare to people," he added.