Bhubaneswar, May 31: Congress leader and former Union minister Srikant Jena today accused the Narendra Modi government of packaging the programmes of the previous UPA government and claiming them to be its own.

Addressing a news conference, the former minister posed a series of questions to the Prime Minister, who is scheduled to visit the state on June 2 as part of the BJP's programme to highlight the achievements of the NDA government. Jena pointed out that the Paradip oil refinery and modernisation of the Rourkela Steel Plant were contributions of the UPA government and not that of the Modi-led NDA government.

Jena, who had represented Balasore in the Lok Sabha, sought to know the reasons behind the delay in setting up an AIIMS hospital in Balasore. The UPA government had taken a decision to this effect, but the NDA government's stance on this has been ambivalent, he alleged.

Talking about the money deposit mobilisation scam, Jena said people had high hopes from the CBI probe. "Now, people are wondering on whose instruction has the pace of investigation been slowed down," he said, targeting the Union government also for not initiating action against the culprits in the mining scam.

He said: "Odisha lost nearly Rs 70,000 crore because of the mining scam. The Justice M.B. Shah Commission, in its report, had pointed out how crores were looted. Instead of taking action against the people involved in the scam, the Modi and Naveen Patnaik governments have allowed them to take part in the bidding process of mines."

Reacting to Jena's allegations, BJP's state in-charge Arun Singh said: "Raising such issues at this time will have no impact on Modi's visit. People have decided to make India free of the Congress. We are working for the larger benefit of the people."