Rahul plays tribal card

BHAWANIPATNA/ROURKELA: Congress president  Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his party will ensure tribal rights over ‘jal, jamin and jungle’ if voted to power.Playing the tribal card at the Parivartan Sankalp Samavesh in Bhawanipatna on Wednesday, he accused the BJD and BJP of curtailing rights of tribals over  forests, water and land resources for helping corporate houses.

Rahul promised that tribal land acquired by industries will be returned to the land owners if the former has not started construction within five years of land acquisition if Congress is voted to power. “Although Kalahandi and its neighbouring areas are rich in natural resources, its people are  poor. This region needs special treatment. It lacks educational and healthcare facilities and in the absence of employment, people are forced to migrate for livelihood,” he said.

Speaking about Dana Majhi who had to shoulder the body of his wife for 10 km as he could  not afford a vehicle to carry it to his village, Rahul said schemes launched by Congress have  either been discontinued or curtailed by the NDA and Naveen Patnaik government.

“However, the minimum income guarantee for the poor is one such initiative of Congress  which cannot be curtailed by any political party. Money will be directly transferred to  the bank accounts of people of low income generation group,” the AICC chief said.

He assured that like in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, farm loan up to `2 lakh  will be waived and paddy farmers here will get minimum support price of `2,600 per quintal.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghela, OPCC chief Niranjan Pattnaik, Congress  leaders Jitendra Singh, Bhakta Charan Das, Jagannath Pattnaik and Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra addressed the rally. Mishra said all the pro-people schemes of Congress  have been sabotaged by Modi government. At the meeting, former Congress MP Subhash Naik who won the 2004 election but joined BJD  in 2009 returned to the Congress fold.

In Rourkela, Rahul joined a group of tribal dancers and danced to pounding drumbeats with  them. Soon after landing at the Rourkela airport, the AICC chief was traditionally welcomed  by tribals of the district and Birmitrapur MLA George Tirkey.

The Congress scion distributed symbolic guarantee cards of Congress’ promises to a  poor tribal woman, jobless youth and a tribal farmer. He felicitated social activist Krishna  Sahu for having cremated above 1,000 unclaimed or abandoned bodies.

This was Rahul’s third visit to Rourkela since 2007. He had earlier interacted with the hockey  trainees of Panposh Sports Hostel at Rourkela in July 2007 and in April 2009, Rahul addressed  an election rally at Birsa Munda ground.

BJP unhappy with ‘chor’ jibe

Rourkela: Odisha BJP secretary Dhiren Senapati took strong exception to Rahul repeatedly  calling the Prime Minister chor (thief) at his public meetings today. It is not expected from  the president of a national party, he said. “During 10 years rule of UPA I and II, the Congress did nothing for the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district while in less than five years Modi Government has put the district on path of rapid growth,” he said. The Centre has provided `1,142.31 crore for upgradation of NH-143 from Birmitrapur to Barkote including six-laning of second Brahmani bridge at Rourkela. For NH 520 through Bonai sub-division, a whopping `2,004.77 crore have been sanctioned and both projects are in progress, he informed. Senapati said the Modi Government included Rourkela under the Regional Connectivity Scheme along with according Smart City status to the city. It has also opened Passport Seva Kendra and sanctioned funds for augmentation of water supply and underground sewerage system in the city.