The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday kicked off the party’s campaign from his home turf Hinjili in Ganjam, with an objective to make Odisha the number one state in 2036 when the state will celebrate the centenary of its formation.
With a clear message that development is the identity of his government, Naveen pledged to make this decade 2024-2034 the golden period for youths of the state and said that his government would come up with a separate budget for the youth. After Hinjili, he also addressed a meeting at Shergarh in his constituency. Odisha will go to polls in four phases on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
Amid the chanting of Naveen and “hariboll”, the 77-year-old Naveen without caring for the sweltering hit, made a blistering attack on the Opposition and tried to expose its game plan, saying no one has ever succeeded by opposing development work. He exuded confidence that the Opposition wouldn’t be successful in blocking the path of development.
“The Opposition is politicising every move of the government — whether its Jagannath Parkirma project, Ekamra project or Maa Samalei project. People are aware of their nature and mean politics and will teach them a lesson in the upcoming twin polls,” he said.
While Naveen delivered his speeches, people, mostly women, the main vote bank of the BJD who were gathered in large numbers, listened with rapt attention. Many of them wearing the masks of Naveen tried to connect with the chief minister himself.
Naveen himself connected and said: “The 4.5 crore people of Odisha are my family. I have been working for the people of the state and will continue to serve them.”
Naveen also gave some insight into why the people of Odisha continue to support him repeatedly since 2000 and listed the number of developmental projects over the years starting from the women empowerment, modernisation of schools, improvement of health services under the states’ scheme Biju Swasthya Kalayan Yojana, empowerment of youths, special budgets for farmers and renovation of the old temples in the state.
Naveen also maintained how women under Mission Shakti in his government have received more than 18,000 crore as free loans. He also talked about women’s empowerment. Thousands of women present raised slogans of “Naveen jindabad”. “Odisha is a leading state in women empowerment, disaster management, PDS and investment,” Naveen said.
Beginning his speech with Jay Jagannath, Naveen asked people to bless his party by casting their votes both forits Lok Sabha and Assembly candidates. Naveen has been winning the Hinjili seatsince 2000.
Naveen-led BJD came to power in alliance with the BJP in 2000 by winning 68 seats and 38 seats respectively. In 2004, the BJD won 61 seats and the BJP 32. The alliance broke in 2009 and the BJD on its strength won 103, the BJP’s seats came down to 6 and the Congress emerged as second by winning 27 seats.
The BJD consolidated its strength further by winning 117 seats in 2014. The Congress and the BJP had to satisfy themselves by winning 16 and 10 seats respectively. In the 2019 elections, the BJD continued to maintain its sway by winning 112 seats. The BJP and the Congress won 23 and 9 Assembly seats respectively.
Aiming for a sixth term, the BJD hopes to win 120 seats.
