V.K. Pandian, the bureaucrat-turned-politician and close aide of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, alleged on Wednesday that the BJP is planning to break the BJD after the Assembly elections to be held alongside the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Interacting with mediapersons at Gopalpur in Ganjam district on Wednesday, the BJD leader said, “They (BJP) raised a slogan of winning 120 Assembly seats in 2014, but failed. I do not know what their target was in 2019. But, they have perhaps fixed a target to win 50 to 60 seats this time, and aim to break the BJD after the elections. This is their poll strategy. They aren’t fighting the elections to form the government.”
He also claimed that the BJD will get a three-fourth majority in Odisha in the ensuing Assembly elections to be held in four phases between May 13 and June 1.
“Unlike other parties’ manifestos, the BJD manifesto, which will be released soon, will be taken seriously by everyone. Naveen Patnaik’s guarantees always work, as he fulfills more than he commits. The BJP and Congress prepared their manifestos eying to win the elections, but Naveen Patnaik will prepare the manifesto for development and to win the hearts of the people of Odisha,” Pandian claimed.
He also claimed that the state government’s flagship programme, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY), is far better than the Ayushman Bharat scheme of the Central government.
Speaking further, the bureaucrat-turned-politician accused the Centre of not spending a single rupee for the development of Odia language while spending crores on the promotion of other classical languages such as Tamil and Sanskrit.
