Bhawanipatna, May 8:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday came down heavily on both the Congress and the BJD for neglecting Odisha during the last 75 years of rule.
Addressing an election meeting here, Rajnath said, ‘The people of Odisha have seen what type of development has taken place in the state by the Congress in 50 years followed by the BJD in the last 25 years.’
Stating that the BJP is totally different from the Congress and the BJD, the Defence Minister said, ‘You have given 50 years to Congress and 25 years to BJD, and now give five years to BJP,we will wipe out corruption and ensure all-round development of the state.’
He urged the people to vote BJP to power in the state; the party will implement all the central welfare schemes in the state which were not implemented by the BJD government.
Rajnath slammed Naveen Patnaik for depriving the people of the benefits of several central schemes, including the Ayushman Bharat, and said once the BJP government is formed in the state, the people deprived of the Ayushman Bharat scheme will be covered.
The Defence Minister, who is the chairman of the party’s manifesto committee, said the manifesto has been prepared after several deliberations and claimed that the BJP believes in doing what it says.
He said during the last ten years of Modi’s rule, the country witnessed 25 crore people brought out of the poverty line and asserted that in the next 10 to 15 years, there will be no poor in the country.
Similarly, not a single family will be left without a pucca house, drinking water, and LPG gas connection in the next five years, Singh remarked.
Rajnath said this was his first visit to Kalahandi, which was projected as poverty-ridden, with hunger and starvation deaths in the newspapers.
The Congress, he said, was in power for a long time but could not eliminate poverty, adding that it was only after Modi came to power that the situation in Kalahandi changed a lot.
The Defence Minister appealed to the people to vote for BJP’s Kalahandi Lok Sabha candidate Malvika Devi and other candidates for Assembly constituencies coming under it.
He accused both the Congress and the BJD of only giving assurances to the people and said the BJP is different from them as ‘we do what we say.’
Singh said the BJP fulfilled its commitment by abrogating Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, abolishing Triple Talaq, and constructing the Ram temple at Ayodhya.
Rajnath said earlier there used to be terrorist attacks in every part of the country, but after the BJP came into power, such attacks have been drastically reduced.
The Senior BJP leader also addressed another election meeting in Rayagada during the day where he also appealed to the people to bring the BJP government to power in the state, assuring that all the central schemes will be implemented, benefiting all sections of people in the state.
He said the atmosphere in Odisha is now different than what it was in the past, and people are in a much jubilant mood to ensure that BJP wins all the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
