Phulbani, May 11 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday came down heavily on Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and dared him to name the districts and its headquarters in the state without the help of a paper.
Addressing an election meeting at Phulbani stadium, Modi said he is not in the habit of criticizing or maligning any individual holding responsibility but feeling very sorry seeing the present situation in Odisha.
He said Naveen Patnaik has been the Chief Minister of the state for several years. “I threw a challenge to him to name the districts and its headquarters without a piece of paper”.
Modi said the Chief Minister, who cannot even name the districts and its headquarters, can understand the plight and suffering of the people of the state.
The PM appealed to the people to give a chance to the BJP to serve Odisha for five years, so that the state will be developed as number one in the country.
Modi said Gujarat has nothing except the salt, yet the state had advanced and was much ahead in development in comparison to Odisha which despite being rich in forest and mineral resources, is still backward and lagging in development where the people are still languishing in poverty.
He said “we want a Chief Minister who is connected with the people of the state, understands the pride of Odia ,its culture and tradition and urges the people to vote for BJP MLAs to form government in the state.
Modi said the Odisha BJP unit is committed to protect the Odia language and its pride adding that only a son and daughter of the state can become the Chief Minister of the state.
The Prime Minister also slammed the state government for its failure to maintain the records of the temple treasury of the Sri Jagannath temple.
He said he is raising an emotional issue on the Ratna Bhandar of the Sri Jagannath temple stating that 70 years back, rules were framed that the records of the temple treasury will be maintained .
Modi said the last inventory of the Ratna Bhandar was made some 45 years back when the evaluators who made the evaluation of all the ornaments and jewellery of Lord Jagannath,could not quantify and evaluate.
The Prime Minister said the Ratna Bhandar of the Jagannath temple has not been opened for the last 40 years, and the keys of Ratna Bhandar are missing for the last six years.
The state government, he said could not keep the keys of the Ratna Bhandar and came out with a duplicate key which is more serious than the missing of the key.
The people of the state, Modi said, have every right to know what happened to the keys; who took the keys and who prepared the duplicate key.
He said a Commission was set up to probe into the matter, adding that although the Commission had submitted its report, the government had not made the report public.
The state unit of BJP has been time and again raking up the Ratna Bhandar issue but the Naveen Patnaik government is running away, the PM said and questioned what is the compulsion of the government and why the BJD is hiding and trying to cover up for its wrong doings.
Modi assured the people that once the BJP comes to power in the state ,the Ratna Bhandar issue will be taken up.
He appealed to the people stating that “ your vote is important for a Bikashit Odisha” andasked them to send all 21 BJP MPs to the parliament and also vote for all BJP MLAs so that for the first time a double engine government will be formed in the state .
The Modi government, the Prime Minister said has accorded GI Tag for Kandhamal turmeric and announced that a Masala park will be established in Kandhamal.
He held both the Congress and BJD responsible for the backwardness of Kandhamal and said the Modi government, has declared Kandhamal as an aspirational district for its all round development.
Accusing the BJD leaders of snatching away the tribal land, the Prime Minister said if BJP voted to power in the state it will take action against the land mafias who have taken away the land of the tribals.
