BJD reminds BJP
of its special status
promise to
Odisha
Bhubaneswar: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan Tuesday fired salvos at the incumbent BJD government in the state and accused it of befooling the electorate by not fulfilling the promises the party made in its manifesto in 2014.
Addressing a press conference in the city, Pradhan said, “From where did you get the money for building 20 lakh houses, like you have claimed to have done, in last five years? The funding for 17 lakh houses has come from the Union government. There could not be a bigger lie than Naveen Patnaik’s claims to have fulfilled the promises of the party manifesto.”
He also added, “The biggest lie was your promise to give pucca ghar to all, which was not fulfilled. You had promised to connect all villages with drinking water projects. Even in March, almost 70 per cent of the rural areas are reeling under shortage of drinking water.”
The Union minister said that the BJD-ruled government failed blatantly on the issues of drinking water, employment, housing, social security, irrigation, recruitments and others. “The BJD’s claim to have fulfilled the promises made by the government in the party manifesto, is their biggest lie till date,” he said.
The minister also castigated the state government on several other issues. Pradhan accused the state government of purposely hiding required information of farmers in Odisha for assistance under the PM-KISAN scheme. He asked the state government to submit the required information.
Refuting allegations made by the Union minister, BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra said, “Can the Union minister answer how many of the promises made by the BJP in their manifesto were fulfilled? He is known for his habitual tendency of lying. The BJP had promised special status to Odisha, but what happened to that?”