Bhubaneswar: The BJD on Thursday accused the BJP govt of allegedly appropriating projects that had been initiated by the Naveen Patnaik govt, drawing flak from the ruling party, which questioned why the projects had not been grounded if they had been initiated.
BJD national spokesperson, Santrupta Misra, during a press conference, alleged that the BJP-ruled state govt is trying to mislead the public by changing the name and branding of previously approved projects and presenting them as new.
Misra pointed out that the recent MoU signed in Delhi for expansion of an Indian Oil project and setting up of a naphtha cracker plant in Paradip was actually approved during the tenure of the previous BJD govt. “On Jan 11, 2018, then chief minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting approval for the expansion of Indian Oil’s project in Paradip and the setting up of a naphtha cracker plant,” Misra claimed.
He further said that in April 2019, Indian Oil submitted a proposal for expansion, which was duly approved by the then Odisha govt. “Re-signing an MoU for an already-approved project and presenting it as new is a deceptive act meant to mislead the people of Odisha,” he said.
Hitting back, state BJP spokesperson Sujit Kumar Das said the current govt is a people’s govt which prioritises development and is realising the full potential of the state’s resources. “The BJP govt has already been achieving milestones in only 10 months in power. The previous BJD govt believed in writing letters, while the current BJP govt believes in execution,” Das said.
Questioning why the projects were not grounded by the BJD, Das said, “Our chief minister is working hard for the development of the state. He is visiting places, meeting people, while this characteristic was invisible in the previous chief minister.”