BJD, Cong launch padayatras

OST Political Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Oct 2:

With the general and Assembly elections drawing closer, BJD and Congress today kicked off separate Padayatras on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti aiming to reach out to the people of Odisha and strengthen their electoral base in the process.

The Congress padayatra launched today will last 33 days, while the BJD padayatra will come to an end on Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan Jayanti on October 11.

While the Congress started its Padayatra from Janata Maidan here to the party office under the leadership of PCC president Jaydev Jena, chief minister and BJD supremo flagged off the party’s padayatra at unit-VI in the presence of the three MLAs and MP Prasanna Patsani of Bhubnaeswar. A public meeting was also organized to mark the occasion.

Addressing party activists in Bhubaneswar, Patnaik said that the aim of the programme was to make the people aware of the achievements of his government during the past 13 years and the Central government’s consistent neglect of the state in various fields.

“Party workers will highlight the welfare programmes of state government and raise the issue of central neglect during the 11-day long padayatra,” said the chief minister.

On the other hand, the Congress leaders said that during their padyatra they would tell the people at large how the Naveen Patnaik Government had failed to properly utilise the funds being released by the UPA government at the Centre under various welfare schemes.

“The state government has failed to utilize the funsd allocated by central government. Besides, it is steeped in corruption scandals starting from chit fund, dal and mining scams. We will urge the people to throw away the corrupt government,” said PCC president Jaydev Jena.