Centre to eradicate poverty by 2022: Rajnath

Kendrapada/Balasore: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the Centre was aiming to eradicate poverty and provide all houses with LPG connections by 2022.
Singh addressed an election meeting at Bari in Jajpur district. He also addressed one at Chandbali in Bhadrak district.
At Bari, he said, “It is high time that Odisha elected a BJP government as the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government has failed on all the fronts. A BJP government at the state and the Centre will be like a double engine that can improve the lives of the people of Odisha. The Congress and BJD were given ample time to develop the region. However, they failed miserably,” he said.
Singh also criticized chief minister Naveen Patnaik for rejecting the Centre’s flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme for the poor. “The Centre launched the Ayushman Bharat scheme to provide Rs 5 lakh health insurance cover per family annually. But the BJD government could not understand its importance. After coming to power in Odisha, the BJP government will implement the programme to provide healthcare facilities to the people,” he said.
“Voters of the state have already voted in three phases for parivartan (change) for the development of Odisha,” he added.
Tribals and dalits, who were once considered to be the traditional voters of Congress and BJD, are no longer with them, Singh said. “History will be created in Odisha in 2019 with the BJP coming to power,” said the Union minister. He also said the country was in safe hands and was developing under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule.
Talking about the Balakot airstrike, Singh said only 13 days after the Pulwama terror attack, the Indian Air Force (IAF) took revenge by striking terror camps in Pakistan. “But some people are questioning the number of terrorists killed in the February 27 airstrike. They should know that the job of the IAF is not to count bodies,” he said.
The meeting was also addressed by Biswaranjan Mallick, BJP MLA candidate from Bari, and Amiya Mallick, the party’s MP candidate from Jajpur.
At Chandbali, Singh lashed out at Naveen by saying, “Odisha is languishing in underdevelopment due to the misrule of the BJD government.” He said, “The BJD has been in power for so long. Give us a chance. We will show how good governance is done.”
Criticising Congress, Singh said the party was politicising the Balakot airstrike and dismissed its demand of proof of casualties in the operation as ‘uncalled for’. “Give BJP five years and we’ll make Odisha the No.1 state,” the minister promised.
Singh also canvassed for BJP’s Bhadrak MP candidate Abhimanyu Sethi, Chandbali BJP MLA candidate Manmohan Samal and Dhamnagar BJP MLA candidate Bishnu Charan Sethi.