By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 7, 2017: BJP national president Amit Shah on Thursday ruled out alliance saying that his party would fight the next Odisha assembly polls alone.

Launching a frontal attack on the Odisha government for not cooperating the Centre in undertaking developmental activities for the State, the BJP president said, works of around Rs 4 lakh crore have been declared by the Centre for Odisha.

“But we are not getting required support from the State to take up the developmental projects. In comparison to other States, Odisha is far behind despite Central support. The people associated closely with the government are involved in the multi-crore chit fund scam, mining scam and others,” he said.

The BJP president, who is on a three-day tour of Odisha, pitched for a younger leadership to run the state and came down heavily on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, saying backwardness and poverty continued due to his government’s “misrule, inefficiency and corruption”.

Shah targeted the BJD government over malnutrition deaths of tribal children in Nagada in Jajpur district and the lives claimed by Japanese encephalitis in Malkangiri. All these showed that healthcare services and welfare schemes had collapsed in the state, he said.

Shah also referred to the incident of a tribal man, Dana Majhi, who walked over 12 km carrying the body of his wife on his shoulder from a government hospital in Kalahandi district after being denied a hearse a year ago.

The country witnessed vast changes in the last three years, he said, adding India is now on the path of development since the BJP took charge.

“The Modi government has made arrangements for the upliftment of poor dalits and backward classes. Free LPG connections, bank accounts for all are some of the reformative steps of the government which the previous government had never thought of. The development was halted during the Congress government,” Shah added.

Shah, however, parried a query on who would be the BJP’s face in the state, saying the party had not decided on it.

“BJP will fight the next elections in Odisha alone. There will be no alliance with any other political party,” Shah said at a press conference here.

Going by the mood of people, his party would win over 120 seats in the 147-member assembly, Shah asserted.

Asked how his party planned to go to 120 from the 10 it bagged in 2014, Shah said his party won over three-fourths of the seats in Uttar Pradesh after getting only 15 per cent votes in the previous poll. Besides, it won in many states including north eastern states.

The BJP had received huge support from Odisha people in the last panchayat elections held earlier this year, he said but evaded a question on whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi would contest the next Lok Sabha poll from Puri after having fought from Varanasi last time. “The parliamentary election was far away”, he said.

Taking a dig at Naveen Patnaik, the BJP chief said celebrations on winning the best administrator award given by a news magazine alone was not going to remove backwardness. Odisha lags far behind other states despite substantial central assistance and support.

Shah said Odisha would be no exception to the BJP’s rise across the country as both the BJD and the Congress are on a decline.

The BJP wave is sweeping all over the country and the same trend will be witnessed in Odisha, he said.

“The state received Rs 68,196 crore as its share of central taxes under the 13th Finance Commission when the UPA was in power and it had gone to Rs 1,84,070 crore under the 14th Finance Commission report implemented by the Modi government.

Reiterating his claim to grab 120 seats in Odisha in next election, the top saffron leader said the BJP wave is reigning over the country and the trend will come to Odisha very soon.