Bhubaneswar: Alleging that the on-going political slugfest between the BJD and BJP is a ‘fixed reality show’, the Congress Monday said the catfight between the two parties in the state is nothing but a clever ploy to dupe people once again. “It is carefully crafted to take people’s votes and then collectively loot them for another five years,” said OPCC Disability Cell chairman Jitendra Kumar Biswal while addressing a presser here. “The BJP and BJD were, are and will always remain together. If the people of Odisha want real change, they must realise that Congress is the only alternative available for them in the state,” he added. He also raked up the Odia pride (Odia Ashmita) issue, which has become a rallying point for the Opposition during this election. “Odia Ashmita or Odia Pride has been in serious danger only because a Tamilian bureaucrat was given absolute control, and in that, BJP is equally guilty for giving the bureaucrat in question a long rope,” he charged, with an obvious reference to former bureaucrat and BJD’s key election strategist Kartik Pandian.
Elaborating, he alleged the Naveen Patnaik-led state government could give absolute authority to a relatively junior IAS officer bypassing many of his seniors only because the Narendra Modi government at the Centre not just allowed but also facilitated it. “It was Union Home Minister Amit Shah who had not only given the Tamil officer direct access to him, but also was meeting him privately in different hotels and offices on many occasions,” he claimed. Now after facilitating the loot of Odia Ashmita in every possible way, the BJP fighting this election in the name of protecting it, he said. “Even from the point of view of our PwD community, Congress is the only party that truly works for the empowerment of the most backward and marginalised communities of the society. The other parties just exploit them for votes,” he added. AICC media co-ordinator Ritu Choudhuary, PCC spokesperson Suvendu Mallik and Sangram Kishore Majhi were also present at the press conference.