“The ruling BJD and BJP parties have become allies only to destroy Odisha. The two parties are selling off mines in this state. They are locked in a love marriage for this reason,” he observed.
Addressing the ‘Odisha Bachao Samavesh’ at the Lower PMG Square in Bhubaneswar here, the Congress veteran said the BJD has been supporting the BJP to protect itself from possible raids by the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in mining irregularities and chit fund scam.
“The parties, BJD and BJP, have virtually no ideological differences. Their only agenda is to remain in power and favour industrialists and business houses. Welfare of common people does not figure in their priority lists,” he remarked, sarcastically.
Lashing out at Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, the Congress president said, “Today Patnaik is abiding by the BJP ideology. He keeps changing his colours. His father Biju Patnaik was a different person. He never sided with dishonest people.”
Alleging that Modi and Patnaik are with all rich people while Congress is with the poor, Kharge lambasted the Prime Minister and said, “Because of threats, some people are leaving parties and parties are leaving alliance.”
In an apparent veiled attack on Tamil Nadu-born bureaucrat-turned-BJD leader V Karthikeyan Pandian, the Congress president alleged that an officer was running the government in Odisha, ignoring the political leaders.
“I would like to know from you: Don’t you have any leaders? Why should an officer from another state rule here? Have the local politicians lost their physical existence here?” he observed.
Thousands of Congress leaders joined the ‘Odisha Bachao Samavesh.’
