While the PM was harsher on the BJD compared with his earlier speeches in Odisha this year, he did not directly refer to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. (Photo: Twitter/BJP) While the PM was harsher on the BJD compared with his earlier speeches in Odisha this year, he did not directly refer to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. (Photo: Twitter/BJP)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi kickstarted his election campaigning in Odisha by asking for just one opportunity for the BJP — “ek baar mauka toh de kar dekho” — after decades of Congress and BJD rule.

“You have to decide the punishment for Congress and BJD who have been given decades to serve you,” PM Modi said. “This election can fit a double engine (for Odisha) with BJP governments in the Centre and the state.”

Odisha will hold simultaneous elections for 21 Lok Sabha seats and the state assembly.

Requesting the crowd to give a standing ovation to the country’s armed forces and scientists, the PM said, “People, who have betrayed the poor for seven decades, are so nervous they are constantly insulting the armed forces and scientists. Shouldn’t these people be punished?”

Asking the crowd whether it trusts the Armed Forces, PM Modi said, “Ek mahina ho gaya Pakistan lashein ginney main laga hua hai or yeh saboot maang rahe hain (Since one month, Pakistan is counting corpses and Opposition is asking for proof)”.

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“Can chit fund scamsters and looters of the poor strengthen and develop Odisha? Can those who enable mining mafia that loot Adivasi wealth develop Odisha? Can those who fail to punish people that torture women develop Odisha?” he questioned, taking shots at the ruling BJD.

While the PM was harsher on the BJD compared with his earlier speeches in Odisha this year, he did not directly refer to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The PM said a vote for BJP is a vote for development directly under his watch. “Aapka yeh sevak Odisha main 8 lakh garib parivaron ko pucce ghar de paya hai, Ujjwala Yojana ke madhyam se yahan ke 40 lakh gharon main dhuen se mukti dilakar ke gas ka chulha de paya hai, 3,000 gaon main andhera mita karke bijli pahuncha paya hai (Your sevak has been able to build 8 lakh concrete houses for poor families, has distributed 40 lakh gas cylinders to enable smoke-free houses, and electrified 3000 villages)”.

Mindful of the tribal population in Koraput and neighbouring districts in the state, the PM also stated that the budgetary allocation for Adivasi development was hiked by around 30 per cent. “In five years, MSP for forest products was hiked three times. Now, MSP has been benchmarked for 50 forest products compared with 10 products five years ago”, he stated.

Read | BJP, BJD spar over coal block allocation when Naveen Patnaik was minister

“When I was working in Gujarat, I used to wish my state had a fraction of Odisha’s natural resources. This land has old temples, waterfalls, jungles, world famous lake, huge coastline and so many opportunities for tourism”, he said. “The state is rich in natural resources, but the people are poor. This is the failure of Congress and BJD.”

He also added that the state government’s pro-poor schemes were serving the interests of middlemen.

He also slammed the BJD for refusing to join Ayushmaan Bharat that can be availed by migrant workers outside Odisha’s borders, unlike the state’s health assurance scheme — Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana.

Explained: In Odisha, long-time incumbent BJD vs combative BJP vs resurgent Congress

PM Modi also claimed that the state government is not sharing beneficiary lists for the Centre’s PM Kisan-Samman Nidhi, while its own KALIA scheme (direct transfer scheme for agriculture sector) is helping “farzi log (ghost beneficiaries)”.

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