BJD, Cong two sides of the same coin: Shah
Ashok Pradhan | TNN | Jan 29, 2019, 23:33 ISTBhubaneswar: Days after Rahul Gandhi’s dig that Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik is a ‘junior partner’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday said Congress and BJD are two sides of the same coin.
Addressing a rally at Salipur in Cuttack district, 50 km from the state capital, Shah said, “BJD and Congress are two sides of the same coin. Neither will bring development to Odisha. If one comes and the other goes, the state won’t benefit at all. Odisha will continue to remain poor.”
Raising the pitch for BJP, Shah appealed to the crowd to give his party the chance to serve the state. “You gave long years to Congress to govern the state, there was no development. You gave 19 years to Naveen babu. But there was no development. This time, give five years to Modi. We will ensure Odisha becomes the number one state in the country,” the BJP president said.
“Naveen government has run the state for 19 years. This time end his rule,” he urged the crowd, adding, “The 2019 verdict is clear; Modi will get a massive mandate. But I have a request, his mandate should have the blessings of Lord Jagannath. He should have the blessings of the people of Utkal.”
Taking a jibe at Naveen for his inability to speak Odia fluently, Shah said, “This time you should have a chief minister who can speak your language.”
The BJP president, however, refrained from mentioning his ‘Mission 120+’ a campaign that he had spoken of in 2017 to win at least 120 of the 147 assembly seats in the state.
In a departure to Modi’s perceived softness towards Naveen, Shah went after the BJD president. He claimed that while the Modi government at the Centre has taken several welfare initiatives for the poor, the Naveen government has been creating hurdles. “Naveen owes an answer as to why he deprived the poor from getting universal health coverage by not implementing Ayushman Bharat (the flagship health insurance scheme). He fears Modi will become more popular,” said Shah, who is scheduled to visit Odisha to address the party’s tribal convention in Puri on February 3.
Referring to the controversy surrounding the missing keys of ratna bhandar at Puri Jagannath temple, the BJP president said, “How can a government that can’t protect the keys to the Lord’s treasury, look after the state’s interest.”
He also hit out at the Congress and the ‘Mahagathabandhan’, saying it lacks both ‘neta’ and ‘niti’ (leader and policy). Shah further stated that four generations of the Gandhi family ruled the country for 55 years but never thought of clean cooking gas and toilets for poor women. “Modi government thought of it and showed how this can be done.”
EoM
Addressing a rally at Salipur in Cuttack district, 50 km from the state capital, Shah said, “BJD and Congress are two sides of the same coin. Neither will bring development to Odisha. If one comes and the other goes, the state won’t benefit at all. Odisha will continue to remain poor.”
Raising the pitch for BJP, Shah appealed to the crowd to give his party the chance to serve the state. “You gave long years to Congress to govern the state, there was no development. You gave 19 years to Naveen babu. But there was no development. This time, give five years to Modi. We will ensure Odisha becomes the number one state in the country,” the BJP president said.
“Naveen government has run the state for 19 years. This time end his rule,” he urged the crowd, adding, “The 2019 verdict is clear; Modi will get a massive mandate. But I have a request, his mandate should have the blessings of Lord Jagannath. He should have the blessings of the people of Utkal.”
Taking a jibe at Naveen for his inability to speak Odia fluently, Shah said, “This time you should have a chief minister who can speak your language.”
The BJP president, however, refrained from mentioning his ‘Mission 120+’ a campaign that he had spoken of in 2017 to win at least 120 of the 147 assembly seats in the state.
In a departure to Modi’s perceived softness towards Naveen, Shah went after the BJD president. He claimed that while the Modi government at the Centre has taken several welfare initiatives for the poor, the Naveen government has been creating hurdles. “Naveen owes an answer as to why he deprived the poor from getting universal health coverage by not implementing Ayushman Bharat (the flagship health insurance scheme). He fears Modi will become more popular,” said Shah, who is scheduled to visit Odisha to address the party’s tribal convention in Puri on February 3.
Referring to the controversy surrounding the missing keys of ratna bhandar at Puri Jagannath temple, the BJP president said, “How can a government that can’t protect the keys to the Lord’s treasury, look after the state’s interest.”
He also hit out at the Congress and the ‘Mahagathabandhan’, saying it lacks both ‘neta’ and ‘niti’ (leader and policy). Shah further stated that four generations of the Gandhi family ruled the country for 55 years but never thought of clean cooking gas and toilets for poor women. “Modi government thought of it and showed how this can be done.”
EoM
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