Dubbing the Naveen Patnaik Government corrupt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday came down heavily on the 24-year-old BJD Government in Odisha saying that “select band of corrupt people have taken control of Chief Minister’s house and CM’s office”.
Hitting out at Naveen Patnaik for ”gobbling up the State’s mineral resources”, Modi, addressing a poll rally at Angul, alleged “BJD’s small and insignificant leaders have become the owners of crores of rupees. Odisha’s BJD Government did not allow the people to reap benefits of rich mineral resources”.
Exuding confidence that people will throw out the corrupt government, he reiterated that “in Odisha, there will be a double engine government for the first time”.
”Odisha will have a double-engine government (at Centre and State) for the first time. BJD has been given opportunity for 25 years but people here are still migrating to other states for jobs. The state is rich in natural resources; but, I feel pain when I see poverty in Odisha.
”Who has devastated Odisha? Who trampled down the dream of Odia youths? These facts are giving me immense pain. Whenever I see the reason for it, I feel the BJD Government is entirely trapped in the web of corrupt people,” he said.
The Modi Government formulated a new mining policy after coming to power in 2014 and as a result, Odisha is getting more royalty, the PM said. The District Mineral Fund (DMF) was created to pave the way for development from minerals extracted from here and people living here get benefits, he said, hinting at embezzlement of DMF funds.
”People will be stunned to know that Odisha got Rs 26,000 crore from DMF. The funds were earmarked for school children and laying out village roads. But the BJD people looted the DMF and perpetrated corruption,” he alleged.
”Under the BJD Government, neither the natural resources nor the culture nor tradition are safe. Even the Lord Jagannath temple is unsafe. For the past six years, there is no trace of the keys of Lord Jagannath’s Ratna Bhandar (treasury). Those who have surrounded the Chief Minister are directly responsible for it,” he charged.