By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 30, 2022: Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda who is on a visit to Odisha on Friday lambasted the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), asking the party workers to work for a ‘BJD-mukt Odisha’.

“To see a developed nation, we need to develop all states. And for the development of Odisha, the state has to get rid of the BJD,” he told a gathering of party workers at Samyukta Morcha Sammelan in Bhubaneswar.

Nadda also criticised the state government for re-branding the PM housing scheme as its own – Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana. “One person is facilitating houses but the credit is being taken by another,” he said.

Nadda alleged the BJD government has deprived 60 lakh families of Odisha of the benefits of the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana. “Under MGNREGA, the Centre sanctioned ₹15490 crore but fake bills are being made here in Odisha. Under Jal Jeevan Mission, the Modi government gave ₹4,966 crore but people in tribal areas still have to depend on water from well and ponds. Odisha is immersed in corruption and the state has to get rid of it. Each and every member of the BJP has to fight against these corrupt practices in Odisha to bring the BJP to power,” he said.

Political observers, however, said Nadda’s clarion call to unseat the BJD government was designed to enthuse party cadres than a real attempt to challenge Naveen Patnaik who has been in power for 22 years on a trot.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday preferred to avoid any direct comment saying that his “party has stood by the people through thick and thin and stood afloat with the blessings of the people of Odisha”.

“Service to people is the main objective; politics is just a means to achieve it. We should all remember this. Politics happens during panchayat and municipal polls. After elections are over, all should come together and work for the people,” Patnaik said in his message to BJD workers on the second day of the party’s preparatory meeting for the month-long Jan Sampark padyatra due to start on Sunday.

On Thursday, Patnaik told his party workers over video conference to “talk less” and focus on sensitising people about the various welfare programmes of our government. “Let our work speak for itself,” he said from Bengaluru where he is travelling to seek investments for the state.

Incidentally, since 2014 when Narendra Modi became PM, the BJD is the only non-Congress party that has unflinchingly supported BJP in major issues. Political observers assert that it will be difficult for the BJP to take on the BJD, given its domination in state politics. In the three-tier panchayat polls held in March this year, BJD secured 90% of the 852 Zilla Parishad seats and cornered all the 30 zilla parishads.

In fact, BJP which first mounted a challenge on the back of its success in 2017 panchayat polls, was relegated to a poor second with 42 seats (5 %). In April, BJD again swept the civic polls by winning 76 of 108 civic bodies including three municipal corporations signalling complete decimation of opposition. In Brajarajnagar bypoll held in June, the BJD candidate secured 61% votes while BJP’s Radharani Panda who had won the seat in 2014 polls, lost her security deposit.