Naveen Patnaik launches poll campaign from Hinjili, promises to make Odisha No. 1
Naveen Patnaik said Odisha was the first state in the country to bring an Agriculture Budget and promised to bring a separate Youth Budget in the state
Chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik launched his party’s 2024 election campaign from his constituency of Hinjili on Wednesday, saying Odisha will be the number 1 state in the country by 2036.
Speaking at a public meeting at Sheragada, Patnaik said the decade from 2024 to 2034 will be the decade of Odisha. “Our victory march will continue. The double conch (the BJD’s party symbol) is a mark of development. This decade will be the golden period for the young generation. Today the farmers of the state get loans at zero percent. The Mission Shakti SHG (self-help group) mothers are getting loans at zero percent interest. Odisha is the first state in the country to bring an Agriculture Budget. We will bring a separate Youth Budget in the state,” he said.
Patnaik said development is the identity of the BJD, but the opposition is always bringing politics into development. “They have been opposing the development of the state. They have been indulging in misinformation. In the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, we will win with a huge majority. Our success journey will continue,” he said
Incidentally, this is the first time Patnaik began his election campaign from Hinjili though he started from Puri in every past election. Hinjili goes to polls on May 20.
Prior to the election rally, the BJD had released a video in which Patnaik, clad in a lungi, was seen holding cut-outs of the party’s conch symbol and urging people to vote for ‘double conch’ in the elections. “This time, vote for double conch – one for MLA and one for MP,” he said.
The campaign, however, had triggered a row after Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan alleged that the video was a mockery of a respectable person, “You all must have viewed the video in which Naveen Babu is seen wearing a lungi and holding two conches. He is an elderly person, and we all respect him but what is he being made to do! At least he should have been made to dress properly. His remote lies in the hands of non-Odia agents. It’s a question of Odia identity. The people of Odisha will give a decisive verdict against such a government,” he said at a public gathering in Laikera.
However, BJD MPs Sasmit Patra said Pradhan was envious of Patnaik’s growing popularity and accused him of hurting the sentiments of local weavers who made the lungi.
