The Mohan Charan Majhi government is consciously attempting to erase the legacy of former chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his father Biju Patnaik.

It has rebranded various schemes launched by the Naveen government named after either Biju or Naveen himself. Besides, it has renamed as many as 40 schemes launched by the Naveen government.

Former chief minister and leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik has alleged that the Majhi government has rebranded as many as 40 schemes in the budget. This came to light when the chief minister, who holds the finance portfolio, on Friday presented a ₹2.65 lakh crore budget for the 2024-25 fiscal in the state Assembly, promising to fulfil the promises that it had made in its election manifesto.

Leader of Opposition Naveen said: “I noticed they have renamed more than 40 of my government schemes. They have just been renamed.”

The major flagship programmes which were operational during the Naveen regime in Odisha and rebranded by the Majhi government are — Biju Swastya Kalyan Yojana, the state’s health scheme, as Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana (named after respected social reformer Gopabandhu Das) and Nabin Odisha as Viksit Gaon — Viksit Odisha.

Earlier, the Majhi government had changed the name of the Biju Patnaik Sports Award to Odisha Rajya Krida Samman but had to retract following a public outcry.

The other major schemes that have been changed are Kalia (Krushak Assistance for livelihood and Income Augmentation) as CM Kishan Yojana, Millet Mission as Shree Anna Abhiyan Odisha and Mo School Abhiyaan as Pancha Sakha Sikshya Setu. The CM Kishan has a plan outlay of ₹1,935 crore.

Chief minister Majhi also allocated ₹500 crore to implement the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana in Odisha.

Earlier, the previous BJD government opposed the scheme and had refused to implement the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana and instead implemented the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) named after the late Biju Patnaik, the father of Naveen. The BJD government had described BSKY as better than Ayushman Bharat.

Besides allocation for the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, the budget has allocated ₹ 5,450 crore for the state’s health scheme Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana, ₹ 2,462 crore for Mukhya Mantri Swasthya Seva Mission and ₹2,095 crore under the National Health Mission to carry out different welfare projects in the health sector.