Smriti Irani snubs Odisha govt, says it’s a patron of Tamil Nadu contractors

By Pravakar Sahoo

Bhubaneswar, May 25: Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani on Saturday sought to portray Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as a “patron of Tamil Nadu contractor” and said the state government’s “remote control was in Tamil Nadu.”

Irani’s observation was seen as an allusion to the growing influence V Karthikeyan Pandian, a Tamil Nadu-born IAS officer-turned politician, on Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and the organisational affairs of the BJD.

The Union minister who was on a one-day campaign trip to Odisha addressed three public meetings at Kujang, Aul and Balasore. She exhorted the voters to cast their ballots in favour of the BJP Lok Sabha and assembly candidates for a double-engine sarkar.

While canvassing for Baijayant Panda and other MLA candidates at Aul under Kendrapara parliamentary constituency, Irani said though the Narendra Modi government provided huge funds to the Odisha government for construction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and building drinking water facilities under Jal Jeevan Mission , the former remained busy in “looting” the funds 24×7 by awarding work contracts to Tamil Nadu contractors.

 She said once the BJP comes to power in Odisha, it will remain 24 X 7 busy in serving the people of the state.

“The ruling BJD is busy in looting you 24 x 7. After our party comes to power here, we’ll serve 24.x 7,” she said.

Raising the issue of missing of keys of Lord Jagannath’s Ratna Bhandar, Irani said, “The people of Odisha only want to know how the Ratna Bhandar keys went missing and why it has been kept hidden by the Tamil Nadu-based contractor.If people vote for BJP, the truth will come out on who insulted Lord Jagannath, who stole the Ratna Bhandar keys and suppressed the report of the Commission of Inquiry which probed into it,” said Irani.

Stating that India had transformed into a prosperous nation under the leadership of Prime Minister Narenra Modi, Irani exhorted party workers to work overtime to see that the BJP comes to power in the state and establishes a double-engine government for building a “healthy” and “wealthy” state.

Stating that the BJP forced the Congress to get out of the contention in Amethi parliamentary constituency which represents in Lok Sabha, the Union minister observed that Odisha voters must try to banish the BJD and Congress from state’s political landscape.

Kendrapara BJP candidate Baijayant Jay Panda said, “The time has come for a change in Odisha as the people here are fed up with corruption, crime and atrocities against women and children under the BJD government here. During my term as Member of Parliament, we worked hard and brought a railway line to Kendrapara.”

Panda further alleged that the state government failed to bring industries for development. As a result, people from this region migrate outside the state and country.

“I used to get distress calls to help in the rescue of Odia youths facing problems or stranded in other countries,” said Panda.

According to Panda, the Dhamra-Paradip Industrial Corridor is among the several guarantees of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Kendrapara is the centre point of Dhamra-Paradip industrial corridor and this will bring massive investments and industries. This would ensure that the youths will not have to go to Dubai, Kerala, Mumbai or Surat as they will get jobs here, he added.