Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janta Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik is trying to get a straight sixth tenure after he made his intentions clear to continue in politics for the rest of his life. On Wednesday, he launched his electioneering for BJD on his home turf Hinjli assembly constituency in the Ganjam district. "Odisha’s 4.5 crore people are my family and I will continue working for them till the end," he said.
Odisha is going for assembly and Lok Sabha elections simultaneously and the voting will take place next month in multiple phases. Patnaik,77, has been Chief Minister of Odisha since the beginning of 2000 and is running his 25th year as head of state. He is now the longest-serving Chief Minister in India.
With Patnaik addressing BJD’s first election rally at Shergada, the campaign bugle was sounded in the state on Wednesday. In the 2019 election, he had started BJD's campaign from the same venue. Meanwhile, the national leadership of the other two main parties of the state -- BJP and Congress -- are yet to launch their campaign in the state. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will launch BJP’s campaign on Thursday at Sonepur in western Odisha. He is also scheduled to attend a meeting of party workers at Bhubaneswar after that.
Addressing a public rally at Shergada, the CM launched a scathing attack on the opposition. "They (Opposition) are opposing all developmental works undertaken by state government including the Puri Parikrama project around Sri Jagannath Temple, the Ekamra project around Sri Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar and the Samalei project at Samaleswari temple. They are politicizing every positive move of the government. The people of Odisha are aware of their nature and mean politics and will teach them a lesion in upcoming twin polls in the state.They should bear in mind that nobody has ever succeeded by opposing development,” Patnaik said.
"Odisha will complete 100 years in 2036 and will be the number one state in the country by then,” he added.
Reminding the people of the achievements of his government, Patnaik said through self-help groups (SHGs) and Mission Shakti initiative, women in rural areas are now driving development across the state. Farmers are also given interest-free loans.
"Odisha is number one in several fields now in the country like women’s empowerment, attracting investment and Biju Swashtya Kalyan Yojana (state’s own health insurance)... In the days ahead, we have plans to introduce a youth budget," he said. VK Pandian and other prominent leaders of the BJD attended the programme.
