New Delhi, May 28 Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Naveen Patnaik government and said that the incumbent Odisha Chief Minister was set to become former CM on the day of counting i.e. June 4.
"Come June 4, and Naveen Babu will no longer remain the CM, but will become the 'Ex-CM'," Amit Shah, who is on a whirlwind campaign tour to Odisha, said at a rally.
Amit Shah addressed three back-to-back rallies in the state (Bhadrak, Jajpur and Jagatsinghpur) and lambasted Naveen Patnaik administration for projecting Centre's free ration scheme as its own.
Boasting about Modi Government's welfare policies in poll rallies, he said that it provided free ration to over 80 crores poor of the country, constructed around 12 crore toilets, and provided 4 crore pucca houses to the poor while the Patnaik government was always seen dragging its feet.
"Narendra Modi's government is Chawal Wali Sarkar because it is providing free ration to the poor while Naveen Babu's government is 'Jhole Wali Sarkar' as it merely adds jhola (bag) to the ration,” said Amit Shah.
He further quipped, "Naveen Babu, you should have increased the amount of rice. Jholas (bags) can't satiate the hunger of poor but added ration could have served the purpose."
Amit Shah, leading the BJP campaign in the last leg of polls, took a series of jibes at Naveen Patnaik and blamed him for the backwardness and poverty and also the exodus of youth from the state. He also questioned the Chief Minister as to why he was bent on making a non-Odia person, his "successor".
"Today, Naveen Babu is trying to impose a Tamil Chief Minister on Odisha. We have tolerated you Naveen Babu for a long, but we will not tolerate a Tamil Babu in your name," said Amit Shah in an apparent reference to Naveen Patnaik's close aide and BJD leader VK Pandian, widely seen as his political heir.
He further said that this time, Odisha will have a local young person who will take the reigns of state.
"Odisha deserves a Chief Minister who is Odiya, who is young, and who is a devotee of Bhagwan Jagannath. The BJP will win, and after 25 years, Odisha will finally be getting an Odiya Chief Minister," he reiterated at multiple rallies in the state today.
Further, citing Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's suggestion to avoid animosity with Pakistan because of the latter's arsenal having atom bombs, he mockingly him, saying, "Let Naveen Babu and Rahul Baba know that PoK was, is and will always be a part of India and we will take it back."
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