Bhubaneswar: The key issues for the elections to the 21 Lok Sabha seats and in the 147-member Odisha Assembly are unemployment, corruption, law and order, paddy procurement irregularities and chit fund and mining scam.
Elections in Odisha will be held in four phases May 13, 20, 25 and June 1.
The ruling Biju Janata Dal headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already completed 24 years in power in the state.
In the last five years, the BJD has supported the Narendra Modi government in different bills and policies and even openly declared on the floor of the Parliament that the state was getting the required support from the Centre in developmental projects. Therefore, the BJD has lost its main weapon to target the opposition BJP.
The opposition BJP has already announced that it will go to polls over the issue of “Odia Asmita” (Odia Pride) as the state administration is mostly run by non-Odia officers and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik mostly depends on non-Odia officers rather than political leaders.
The major election issue in Odisha:
- Unemployment and migration: This is likely to be the major election for both BJP and the Congress. Though Patnaik ruled the state for 24 years, it has ‘failed’ to stop the migration of youths from Odisha. The government has also ‘failed’ to provide jobs to men and women. The parties may also raise recruitment scam allegations which were raised during the last two years.
- Law and Order: Though the state’s law and order remain by and large under control, there is rise in the crime against women in Odisha. Both BJP and Congress have already made it an issue.
- Corruption: Corruption is one of the major issues in the elections. However, in Odisha, this time the charges of corruption are added with allegations like discrimination. While there is allegation of corruption in the implementation of different schemes, the opposition parties this time made additional charges like the beneficiaries of PMAY and other schemes are selected on a political basis and not in a neutral manner. The Congress has also raised questions about the state government giving priority to non-Odia contractors in different works.
- Chitfund and Mining scam: Like previous years, the opposition is also set to raise the chit fund scam as people cheated by ponzi firms are yet to get back their money. The BJP and Congress alleged that the members of the ruling party were involved in both the chit-fund scam and mining irregularities. They have demanded a proper CBI probe into the twin scams.
- Paddy procurement irregularities: Though the Naveen Patnaik government has implemented several farmer welfare schemes like KALIA & BALIA (financial assistance to farmers schemes), the administration has ‘failed’ to solve ‘irregularities’ in paddy procurement. There is allegation that the farmers are not getting proper MSP on paddy sales and there is sometimes distress sale of paddy by farmers due to irregularities in the state-run mandis.
- Drinking water and irrigation: As the polling will be held during the scorching heat, it is natural that the drinking water issue will dominate the poll campaign. The state government has not yet been able to provide piped drinking water to all people. Outbreak of diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases is a natural phenomenon in tribal-dominated districts like Rayagada, Gajapati and some other places.
Apart from these issues, the parties may also raise many local problems.
PTI