Bhubaneswar: Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today strongly criticized the BJP government over deaths of two tribal women after consuming mango kernel at Mandipanka village in Kandhamal district recently.
Speaking at a BJD programme here, Shri Patnaik said that poor tribals are now forced to consume mango kernel due to lack of adequate food in their homes as the BJP government has stopped providing free rice to them.
He claimed that the BJD government had been ensuring food security for all poor people of the State during its regime.
“However, the BJP government has now stopped the provision of rice for poor tribals. Therefore, they were forced to eat mango kernel gruel and two tribal women have died and others are undergoing treatment. This is very sad,” the BJD President said.
The former chief minister said the previous BJD government had launched several schemes for the poor people of the state. Naveen expressed concern over the decisions taken by the BJP government and said it has ruined the efforts of the previous BJD government which had ensured that people received adequate grains.
Shri Patnaik, who was the chief minister of Odisha from 2000 to 2024, emphasised that the BJD government had introduced the state’s own food security scheme for those who were not covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
“Now, the current government has ruined all those efforts and, as a result, people are forced to eat mango kernel gruel because they’re not getting rice,” LoP said
He expected the present government to continue with the scheme as food security of people cannot be compromised.
BJD Boss called on the youth and student wings of the party to counter the propaganda of rivals on social media.
Reacting to Shri Patnaik’s statement, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra said, “As many as 16 people had died by eating mango kernel in Tikiri and Kashipur blocks of Rayagada district during the BJD government. Will Shri Patnaik admit that these people died for not getting rice to eat?”
He asserted that the medical reports confirmed that the casualties were due to “food poisoning” and not due to lack of rice.
Shri Patra claimed that eating mango kernel gruel was part of the tribal population’s food habit.
“The mango kernel does not impact their lives, but this time it was stale for 4/5 days and became poisonous,” the Minister said.
Similarly, BJP leader and Kantabanji MLA Laxman Bag said, “I do not know when Naveen Babu sat and performed his ‘tapasya’ in starvation and empty stomach in the last 12 years. Even, I don’t even know when he wore a yogi’s attire. If at all he knows this, you (media) better ask him when he received his Deekshya (initiation) and became a yogi.”