Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday targeted Mamata Benerjee, his counterpart in neighbouring West Bengal, and the previous BJD government for the potato crisis in the state.

Not self-sufficient in potato production, Odisha depends a lot on West Bengal for its requirement for the tuber and faces problems when the neighbouring state stops supplying the produce to cater to its home demand.

While addressing an agricultural event here, Majhi and Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo slammed Benerjee for the potato scarcity in Odisha.

“Facing potato crisis in Odisha, we have talked to Mamata Didi, but in vain. She settles a score on us at the appropriate time. There is no ‘mamata’ (affection) in Mamata Didi for Odisha,” Majhi said.

The CM, however, did not elaborate on how Banerjee is settling a score.

The chief minister also blamed the previous BJD government which he accused of failing to make Odisha self-sufficient in potato and onion production.

During the last six months since the BJP came to power in June last year, Odisha has faced an acute potato crisis allegedly because of West Bengal stopping supply.

In his speech at the ‘KRUSHI ODISHA 2025’, Singh Deo also targeted Banerjee and accused her TMC government of “blackmailing” Odisha’s BJP government during the potato crisis.

“West Bengal is blackmailing Odisha by stopping potato-laden trucks. But the state (Odisha) government has devised a plan. We have been encouraging farmers to undertake potato cultivation in a big way from this year,” the deputy CM said.

He said that the state government in December 2024 has provided 1.6 lakh kg of potato seeds to 1.80 lakh farmers to undertake cultivation of the tuber.

In 2023, only 45,000 kg of potato seeds were used by the farmers in the state, said Singh Deo who also holds the agriculture portfolio.

He said the state government was also making provision of cold storage in 58 sub-divisions of the state.

Majhi criticised the previous BJD government accusing it of failing to increase the state’s potatoes and onions.

“The BJD government had launched the Potato Mission and also Jackfruit Mission in the state. Both missions failed. It is something like ‘operation is successful, but the patient is dead’,” Majhi said mocking the Naveen Patnaik regime.

Earlier, Odisha’s Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister KC Patra had also blamed the West Bengal CM for the potato crisis in the state.

Odisha needs around 10.21 lakh MT of potatoes in a year, and it produces only 20 per cent of its requirement.

Opposition BJD, however, rejected Majhi’s allegation that all the previous government’s missions failed.

“This is wrong to say that the previous government did nothing during its 24-year rule. When Naveen Patnaik came to power in 2000, Odisha’s milk production was 20 lakh litre per day which increased to 85 Lakh litre in 2024,” senior BJD leader and former agriculture minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said.

Similarly, egg production increased from 22 lakh per day to 90 lakh per day while fish output rose from 1.5 lakh MT to 11 lakh MT. For vegetables production, the increase in yield was from 50 lakh MT to 150 lakh MT, he said adding that Odisha became a rice surplus state.

Sahoo also demanded immediate assistance for farmers whose paddy crops were damaged by unseasonal rains.

He said, "The government must purchase all the paddy from farmers and provide them compensation without waiting for what the insurance company would do.”

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.