Cong, BJD in war of words

Bhubaneswar: Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh here on Sunday announced that the state-level Bharat Jodo Yatra would kickstart from here on October 31 and cover a distance of 2,250 km in most districts in 100 days.
Though Rahul Gandhi started the 3,500 km Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra on September 7, state-level padyatras are being organised in regions where Rahul’s march did not cover. Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra will pass through 12 states and two Union Territories in 150 days.
On the sidelines of announcing the schedule of the state-level yatra here, Ramesh said though the BJP and BJD are rivals in Odisha, they act like allies in Delhi (Centre). “The BJD and BJP are two sides of same coin. BJD has been supporting the decisions of the Centre.” BJD rubbished Ramesh’s remark saying, “Jairam Ramesh’s statement is not based on facts. Odisha leads by example due to the good governance by Naveen Patnaik. Congress should learn from BJD,” BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said.