Modi, Patnaik running a partnership govt in Odisha, I can see it in Parliament: Rahul Gandhi

“The partnership government of Naveen Patnaik and Narendra Modi is being run here in Odisha. Both are hand in glove and work together, which I can see in the Parliament. The Congress is fighting against both parties here,” said Gandhi, setting the tone for the party’s Odisha unit for the upcoming polls.

बेरोज़गारी की बीमारी देश भर में फैल रही है और हर प्रदेश इस बीमारी से बुरी तरह पीड़ित है।

ओडिशा के आंकड़े देखिए – 40% युवा पढ़ाई और कमाई से दूर हैं, 1 लाख से अधिक सरकारी पद खाली हैं और लाखों युवा नौकरी की तलाश में हैं।

ओडिशा के 30 लाख से अधिक युवा नौकरी के लिए अन्य राज्यों में…

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 7, 2024

His allegations come barely a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a visit to Odisha, refrained from attacking the Patnaik government.

Gandhi referred to BJD’s support to the Modi government inside and outside Parliament on a range of issues, including passage of key legislations, and the top leadership of both parties showering praises on each other.

After AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge spoke on the same theme at a rally in Bhubaneswar on January 29, Rahul is the second senior Congress leader to have taken this line of attack.

“The BJD and BJP are the same. While your CM (Patnaik) is helping Modi in Delhi, he helps the CM here. The same thing was happening in Telangana. We have thrown out the BRS government in Telangana and we are going to do the same thing with the BJD in Odisha,” he said.

Congress sources said the party hopes this line of attack could help revive its organisation, which has been pushed to the brink following repeated electoral losses.

Gandhi also said that while 30 lakh people from Odisha have migrated to other states to work as labourers, 30 billionaires have come here from outside to loot the state’s resources.

Congress sources said the route selection was meant to reinvigorate the party in a region where the Congress once had a strong presence. The party’s tribal face and former chief minister Hemananda Biswal had last won the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat in 2009. In Bargarh, too, the party’s candidate had won in 2009.

Said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, “It’s true that our organisation has weakened. Many of our leaders have also left the party. To infuse life to our organisation, we carried out Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022 and are now doing the Nyay Yatra.”