Bhubaneswar, May 9: Politics took the centre stage on Akshay Tritiya as the BJD and the two major Opposition parties vied with each other to woo farmers while aiming verbal barbs at rivals.
Akshay Tritya marks the onset of farming activities in the state and is considered an important festival for farmers.
While the BJD made a tacit attempt to project the state’s official programme on the occasion as its own, the BJP sought to hijack the programme organised by the Centre at the Cuttack-based National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) graced by Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh.
The keen competition among the BJD and the BJP to corner glory was evident from the flood of banners and posters featuring their prominent leaders, including chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Union ministers Radha Mohan Singh and Dhermendra Pradhan, in and around the respective venues, where their programmes were held.
While Singh, who addressed a public meeting in the company of Pradhan and some state BJP leaders at Kandarpur in Cuttack close to NRRI, launched a special mobile application for farmers, Naveen inaugurated the direct benefit transfer scheme at Lakshminarayanpur near Pipili where the state-level Akshay Tritiya programme was held.
Ramesh Rout, a farmer of Laxminarayanpur, became the first beneficiary of the scheme under which the amount of agriculture subsidy would be transferred directly to the bank accounts of farmers.
The rivalry between the BJD and the BJP acquired an edge as the outspoken agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy, who happens to be the MLA from Pipli, taunted the saffron party for being a copycat and organising a programme to mark Akshay Tritiya by following the example of Naveen.
He alleged that the BJP had used the resources of the petroleum and natural gas ministry, headed by Dharmendra Pradhan, for the purpose.
“The BJP is following the Naveen Patnaik government in celebrating Akshay Tritya. Money from the oil sector is being used for the purpose. But they should remember that a thousand needles cannot make a shovel,” said Maharathy at Lakshminarayanpur, quoting an Odia proverb.
This drew a sharp retort from Pradhan, who, while addressing the gathering at NRRI in Cuttack, said: “Given a chance, the BJD would even seek to monopolise the annual rath yatra of Lord Jagannath in Puri and claim it as its own.”
Pradhan was also engaged in verbal jousting with BJD’s Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahatab at the Union government-organised programme at the NRRI.
Mahatab was the first to take a dig at the Union minister, who, he said, was more active in Odisha despite being a member of Parliament from Bihar.
“We expect to see more of him in Odisha in the coming days,” said Mahtab, obviously hinting at the political ambitions of Pradhan in the state despite his Rajya Sabha membership from Bihar.
Pradhan retorted citing the example of the Mahabharat’s Ekalabya, who, despite the refusal of Guru Dronacharya to train him in archery (in this case the allusion was to Odisha not sending him to Parliament), went on to become a great archer by his sheer dedication.
“I know he (Mahatab) has taken a subtle dig at me. But he should know that history still remembers Ekalabya.”
He also took a dig at Naveen by saying that he could speak in Odia.
State Congress president Prasad Harichandan, who took part in the party-organised Akshay Tritiya programme at a village in Balianta block on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, lashed out at both the BJD and the BJP for ignoring the plight of farmers, who were committing suicide across the state.
