Assam Chief Minister and saffron party’s star campaigner Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said Pakistan-occupied Kashmir would be merged with India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi secures his third term in office.
”If Modi gets 400 seats, it is our (BJP’s) promise that PoK will be brought back to India,” Sarma said while addressing a poll rally in Patkura under Kendrapara Parliamentary constituency.
The Assam CM, exuding confidence, said after six phases of country-wide election, BJP-led NDA had already crossed 360 seats and was heading towards 400-mark.
BJP was inching close to secure a majority in the Odisha Assembly polls; he claimed adding that the BJP Government will be sworn in with voters’ blessings on 10 June, he said.
While BJP heavyweights PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had earlier made a frontal attack on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in poll rallies, Sarma was found sparing the regional satrap and fired all artillery on his trusted aide and principal poll manager VK Pandian.
Dwelling on contrasting pictures of rich mineral resources and lack of employment, the Assam CM sharpening attack on BJD’s second in command, said “When all are languishing without jobs, all jobs are with only one individual- VK Pandian, no other has the job”.
”The BJD Government speaks of 5T governance. The 5T’s teamwork revolves around Pandian and his IAS officer wife. Neither MLAs nor MPs have power in Odisha. Has the Cabinet the power in Odisha? Does any other officer have power?” alleged Sarma in a blistering attack.
The Pandian couple is the repository of all powers, he said. ”Here in Odisha, there is no 5T, only T that holds sway in Odisha is Tamil Nadu,” Sarma said implicitly referring to the Tamil Nadu-born ex-bureaucrat and second in command of BJD, Pandian.
It is Pandian who has rendered Odia youths jobless and forced them to migrate for work though Odisha has the resources to show the way to the country, he further alleged.
“He (Pandia) has held CM Naveen Patnaik under hostage and damaged the future of Odia youths. I request Naveen Babu to keep Pandian away from the poll campaign for the next four days. People will hear Patnaik with respect and will shower love on him”, he said.
”If Odisha, which is rich in human resources and mineral reserves, gets a good government, it could become the number-one state in the country,” he said, predicting BJP coming to power in Odisha.
But, he said, youths here were migrating to other States for employment as they have no work here. ”There is no government job here. Over one lakh government jobs are vacant in Odisha. The non-Odias are getting jobs in industries here. The wealth of Odisha is being transferred to outsiders. The BJP Government, if voted to power, will give jobs to one lakh youths in the first year,” Sarma stressed.
If BJP comes to power (in state) on 10 June, the Ratna Bhandar missing key will be found and all reports of the inquiry commission would be made public, he added.