Bhubaneswar: Senior BJD leader and 5T Chairman Kartik Pandian today claimed that BJD is going to win this election for its work and nine self goals set by the BJP.
Speaking to media persons here this morning, Shri Pandian said, “BJP in Odisha has set nine self-goals. The first self-goal is dragging Lord Jagannath and Sri Mandir into political discourse. People of Odisha don’t like this kind of approach and people condemn this kind of approach by the BJP. The way leaders of BJP, especially those who are coming from outside using abusive language against the most popular CM in the country Naveen Babu (Patnaik). People of Odisha don’t like this.”
The second self-goal of the BJP is that they will close the Mission Shakti programme, if they come to power, which means about 70 lakh women will become jobless. This has created a panic among the women of the state and they are going to show their ire in this election, he said.
Similarly, the BJP has also announced to close down the BSKY scheme, which is nearly a universal health assurance scheme. As the BJP has said they will implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which means 45 lakh families covered under the state scheme will be deprived off the healthcare benefit. Besides, the BJD has promised to extend the BSKY to 100 percent population while the Ayushman Bharat will cover only 45 to 50 percent, he mentioned.
The BJD leader further said that the BJP has not announced anything about scholarship of college students and transformation of schools, colleges and other educational institutions. About 98 percent of the total students are getting the Nua O scholarship in Odisha while BJP will close all these schemes, Shri Pandian added.
To protect the tribal language, their culture, art forms and places of worship, the BJD government has set up Special Development Councils in tribal dominated districts. However, the BJP doesn’t have set up such councils in any of its tribal states where they have a double engine government. So, the tribal people are feeling hurt and they are not going to vote for the BJP, he asserted.
Further, the top BJD leader said people of Odisha are very well aware of the fact that there is a lack of communal harmony and collection of ‘Dada Baty’ wherever BJP is there. People of Odisha don’t like this, he added.
Similarly, the BJP has failed to fulfil the promise made to enhance the paddy MSP even after ruling the country for 10 years.
The free power scheme of BJD has hit the BJP very hard so they are asking the people to buy solar power systems but the people are not convinced about it.
The last self-goal No 9 is the jumla of Rs 50,000 cash voucher to every woman. If they implement this in Odisha, the estimated cost will be around Rs 1 lakh crore whereas the entire developmental budget of Odisha is only Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. Where will they get the money? he asked.