‘PSUs in Odisha will be privatized if Modi comes to power in 2024’: Jairam Ramesh during Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra

Rourkela: Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh today said the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in Odisha will be privatized if the PM comes to power in 2024.

Ramesh was addressing a press conference on the sidelines of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Rourkela.

“Rourkela has significance when it comes to industrialization in the country. In 1950s and 1960s, the public sector played a major role in shaping the country. Units of NALCO and NTPC were established in Odisha. Today, the public sectors are in danger because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intention to sell these. While Congress has formed the country, the PM is trying to sell it to selected industrialists. If the PM comes to power for the third time, Rourkela will be sold too. NALCO will be sold as well,” said Ramesh.

Alleging that the BJP and the BJD are working unitedly, he said, “Only the Congress party will oppose the privatization as the BJP and the BJD are two sides of a coin. The BJD always supports the BJP in Parliament. Whenever I go to talk to the leaders of the BJD, they tell me that they received orders from Bhubaneswar to support Modi.”

“The two parties are engaged in shadow-boxing. Congress is the only party which fights against the ideologies of the BJP and RSS,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi had come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

Addressing a gathering at Panposh Chowk here, Gandhi said, “In Odisha, Naveen Patnaik and Narendra Modi are running a BJD-BJP partnership government. They work unitedly. I have seen it in the parliament. Only the Congress party is fighting against the partnership in the state.”

Raising the issue of unemployment in Odisha, Gandhi said, “Around 30 lakh people from Odisha have gone to other states for job because the Odisha government is not doing its work properly. Unemployment is at its peak in Odisha. As many as 30 industrialists from outside have come to Odisha to loot the assets of the state.”

“BJP and RSS are spreading hate across the country. We have to open ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ in ‘Nafrat ki Bazaar’. The tribals, dalits and people belonging to backward classes in the region are facing injustice. We have come here to listen to your grievances,” he added.