Bhubaneswar/Bhawanipatna: BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday alleged that the BJD government had failed on all fronts during its 18-year-rule and called upon the people to throw it out.
Pointing out at the huge gathering at his public meeting and farmers' rally venue, Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, in Bhawanipatna of Kalahandi district, Shah said: "This heavy turnout at 45 degrees Celsius shows that the BJP is going to win the next election."
"The state has everything except good governance, which we are committed to give," he said while calling upon the people to vote the BJP to power in 2019 elections.
Following its recent defeat in the Bijepur bypoll, the BJP is hopeful that Shah's visit will re-energise the party cadre at the grassroots level and prepare them for the general elections. On September 6 last year, Shah arrived on a three-day visit to Odisha for the "Mo Booth Sabuthu Majboot" programme and launched the party's mission for 120-plus seats in the 147-member Assembly in the next elections.
Party sources said Shah would review the tasks allotted to party activists and leaders. A meeting with the party's core-group leaders is also on schedule.
Kalahandi and Balangir districts, where the BJP had fared well in the last year's panchayat elections, have been selected for Shah's two-day visit which started on Wednesday. The party has targeted, say insiders, to win three to four Assembly segments and the Lok Sabha seat of the district in the next elections. At present, BJP state president Basanta Panda represents the Nuapada Assembly seat, which is located in undivided Kalahandi district.
After his Bhawanipatna meeting, Shah will conduct road shows on his way to Balangir, where he is scheduled to address a youth rally on Thursday. Balangir district is considered as a BJP bastion as its Patnagarh Assembly segment is represented by the party's legislative wing leader and former minister K.V. Singh Deo. His wife Sangeeta had won the Balangir Lok Sabha seat in 1998, 1999 and 2004.
During his ongoing visit, Shah will have a dinner with a Dalit family at Deogaon of Balangir district. During his last visit to Ganjam and Jajpur districts, he had similar dinners as part of his mass-contact strategy.
Condemning the violence across the country on Monday in which 10 people were killed, Shah said: "I announce that the BJP will never scrap the reservation or let anyone to scrap it. We have all the respect for the Constitution and BR Ambedkar and will never dare to touch it."
The BJP president focused on various development schemes and alleged that the Naveen Patnaik government had failed in performing its duty. Stating that 36 per cent of homes in Odisha still did not have electricity, Shah said: "I assure you that under the Souvagya Yojana, all the homes of the poor and tribal will be provided electricity by 2021."
He also said 50 lakh families in Odisha still lived in mud houses. "The Narendra Modi government has decided to provide pucca houses to all by 2022," he said.
Taking a dig at the chief minister, Shah said 12,442 villages in Odisha were yet to be connected by the road under the PMGSY. He said that despite having fund, the work of the roads being not done. "If you can't spend the money, leave your chief ministerial post and give us a chance. We will complete it," he said.
Shah was also critical of the BJD for the poor show of the government institutions in the NIRF ranking. "There is not a single government institution in the top 100 of the NIRF ranking from Odisha. The top 10 government institutions are given Rs 20 crore each for developing infrastructure," he said.
He also highlighted the health insurance scheme for the poor and the central government's decision to raise the minimum support price of paddy by 1.5 times for the farmers.
