BERHAMPUR: The BJD Government is only interested in votes and not development, alleged Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Addressing ‘Jana Paramarsh Padyatra’ at Jagannathprasad on Sunday, Pradhan said the BJD Government has failed miserably to develop the State during its 19-year regime. Terming all programmes implemented by the BJD as failure, he said the State is plagued by problems pertaining to education, health, roads, irrigation, power supply and jobs to youths.

Describing BJD’s Mahila Samabesh in Puri as a hoax, Pradhan said the State Government’s KALIA scheme had confused farmers. He said even as the Centre is spending thousands of crores under various schemes for Odisha, it has been criticised by the BJD leaders. He said if the BJD Government has indeed implemented several schemes for the people in Odisha, then why lakhs of people from Ganjam district are working as migrant labourers.

Terming the recent BJD meeting at Surat as an exercise to woo voters, Pradhan said the country is marching towards a golden era under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He claimed that due to increased popularity of BJP- sponsored schemes, the BJD leaders have lost self-confidence. Pradhan said the Centre has been giving top priority to development of rural areas across the country.
Citing an instance, the Union Minister said only 749 out of 34,000 families in Jaganathprasad block had access to LPG. Now the number has gone up to 28,941 families.

BJP Ganjam unit president Kanhu Charan Pati and State party secretary Bibhuti Jena were present at the meeting.