Odisha BJP toughens its stance against BJD, Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar:  With nearly one year left for the next assembly and general elections, BJP – the principal opposition party in Odisha – has become aggressive against the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government.

Following the completion of Presidential poll, the BJP has started attacking the BJD government raising several issues including woman blackmailer Archana Nag honey trap case and suicidal death of prime accused in lady teacher Mamita Meher murder case.

Notably, in both the cases, involvement of ministers and senior BJD leaders were alleged. The attack of the BJP against the BJD government has sharpened further in the past one and half months following the visit of BJP national President J.P. Nadda.

The saffron party has been strongly criticising the government on every issue and that too, the target is the chief minister. Demanding resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Odisha BJP has hit the street over deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

The BJP has been claiming that the law and order situation has collapsed in Odisha because three major incidents happened in the state in a short span of time. Cabinet Minister Naba Das was killed by a police official in broad daylight on January 29 while a young IAS officer and his driver were attacked by the sand mining mafia in Balasore district on February 3.

Besides, the BJP is also demanding action against BJD MLA Bijay Shankar Das for allegedly harassing a girl, to whom he was supposed to marry. In this case, police registered a case against the MLA after intervention of the Orissa High Court.

Stating such cases of law and order problem has not been reported in Odisha, the BJP is holding demonstrations and road blockades in different parts of the state including capital city Bhubaneswar.

Apart from its bid to trash the image of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his government over the law and order issues, the BJP is also highlighting Centre’s free rice scheme to woo the voters.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan – a big face of Odisha BJP – MLAs and other BJP leaders have united to fight against the BJD government, which is in power since 2000.

Leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra continuously targeted the government over the minister’s murder case. Alleging top-level minds behind the murder, he has demanded CBI probe into the case.

“There are a lot of issues against the BJD government and party. But the BJP has to raise all such issues. It is a challenge before the BJP to maintain its aggressiveness and tempo against the state government till next election,” said political observer Prasanna Mohanty.

On the other hand, the ruling BJD has also always become ready with a counter strategy to BJP’s every move. When the BJP launched three-day state-wide demonstrations, the BJD has also hit the streets over reducing the budgetary allocation on paddy procurement and discontinuation of distribution of 5 kg free rice under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

The regional party has been demanding an apology from Mishra for his alleged misbehaviour to a lady cop during a protest. However, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD has till now confined its attack on the Odisha BJP and its leaders. They are not making any critical statement against the top-level BJP leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Nadda.

(IANS)