BJP stalwarts, including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and its national president J.P. Nadda, on Thursday stepped up their attack against Naveen Patnaik government with only one day left for the third phase of polling for Odisha Assembly and Lok Sabha election.

All of them urged the people to vote for a double-engine government in Odisha to expedite the development and to free the government from “Officer Raj”.

All of them were after Naveen’s close aide and chief strategist, V.K. Pandian, in particular. Besides, they targeted the BJD government raising the issues pertaining to the Puri Shree Jagannath Temple. All of them are aware that they can only touch the sentiments of Odias by raising the issue of the Puri Jagannath temple.

Addressing rallies at Chilika under the Puri Lok Sabha constituency and at Kendrapara, Yogi Adityanath targeted the “Babu Raj” in Odisha. “Officer Raj leads to corruption and dictatorship. Subsequently, the rights of people are curtailed. No officer should be given so much power that he should start running the government as if it is his government. Janata Janardan kaa saatth usska koi sampark nehi hei ( He has no relations with the peple)”

Yogi said when administrative officials start running a parliamentary democracy, it gives birth to corruption, mafia raj and dictatorship and the poor are exploited. “Odisha needs a double-engine government to ensure ‘bulldozer’ action against land, sand forest and cattle maifa in the state. The Naveen government has hijacked the free ration scheme of the central government.”

Yogi also raised the issue of missing keys of the treasure trove of Puri Jagannath temple and said once the BJP voted to power, it would work towards the development of Puri like that of Ayodhya and Kashi Vishwanath.

He also criticised the Naveen government for not including Odisha in the Ayushman Bharat Yojana.

Upping the ante, Assam chief minister Sarma said that Naveen Patnaik is in a hostage situation, “The chief minister of Odisha cannot meet someone alone and can not even talk to anyone as Pandian is always there with him. I think a High Court needs to talk to Naveen Babu if he is happy or not or if the chief minister has been taken hostage.”

He also warned that there would be no BJD after the election and it would collapse.

BJP national president Nadda said the people of the state have decided to give “rest” to Naveen and vote for the BJP.

“Earlier, there was the politics of division. But Modiji has transformed the political culture with a focus on development,” Nadda said.

Targeting the BJP stalwarts, Pandian said: “The people won’t forgive those leaders who are coming to Odisha and hurling abuses against chief minister Naveen Patnaik. They will take revenge on the voting day for insulting Naveen Patnaik.”

On May 25, six Lok Sabha seats — Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Puri, Bhubaneswar — and 42 Assembly seats under these segments will go to polls. Nearly 98.48 lakh voters will exercise their voting rights.