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Modi predicts Patnaik govt’s ‘expiry date’, CM retorts with ‘daydreaming’ jibe
The PM’s attack on the state government, on Patnaik with whom he shared friendly ties, has driven home the message that the two parties are no longer ‘frenemies’, but serious contenders
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the tone for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s poll campaign in Odisha. The PM during a rally in the state on Monday said June 4 will be the “expiry date” of the incumbent Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government led by chief minister Naveen Patnaik that has been in power for five terms.
The PM’s attack on the state government, on Patnaik with whom he shared friendly ties, has driven home the message that the two parties are no longer ‘frenemies’, but serious contenders.
Taking potshots at the CM, he said workers from Patnaik’s constituency of Hinjili continue to migrate to other states and positions in hospitals, and schools continue to remain vacant. He also took a dig at the state government for not empowering women, a key contention for both the BJP and the BJD. The PM alleged the state government has suspended a scheme that provided ₹6,000 to every pregnant woman.
Stepping up the attack against the BJD, Modi compared the BJP to a sunrise of new opportunities.
Patnaik, known as a man of a few words, responded by brushing off the PM’s statement as “daydreaming.”
Of the rich and the poor
Pramila Pujari, who is contesting the polls from Koraput as the candidate of the Socialist Unity Centre of India, has made it to the headlines as the candidate with “zero” cash and ₹25,625 in the bank. In the state which has several candidates with a net worth of a few crores, Pujari is an exception.
In the four constituencies – Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Koraput and Berhampur – that will go to polls on May 13, as many as 37 candidates have declared themselves as millionaires or crorepatis. As per the Odisha Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), an election watchdog, all four contenders of both BJP and BJD are millionaires as are three from Congress, four Independents, one each from Naba Bharat Nirman Seva Party (NBNSP) and Bharatiya Bikash Parishad (BBP).
BJP’s Kalahandi candidate Malvika Devi is the richest with total assets worth over ₹41.89 crore, followed by Independent candidate from Berhampur constituency V Chandra Shekhar, who has declared assets of ₹28.7 crore. BJP’s Balabhadra Majhi from Nabarangpur has assets of ₹7.88 crore and Pradeep Panigrahy from Berhampur has assets of ₹3.78 crore.
As for the criminal antecedents, the watchdog found 54% of the BJP candidates, contesting in the first phase, face trial in serious criminal cases. The details are ferreted from the affidavits filed by the candidates and the declaration made by them per law.
All major parties contesting in Phase 1 have given tickets from 27-64% of the candidates who have declared criminal cases. They seem to have overlooked the Supreme Court’s 2020 directions asking political parties to give reasons for selection of candidates with criminal cases.
