Naveen Patnaik faces party workers’ wrath at meeting

Naveen Patnaik’s motorcade was stopped at many places. More than 300 activists led by the general secretary of the Cuttack unit BJD Golak Sethi tried to block the motorcade of the Minister at Sisula chhak. Other irate party workers threw rotten eggs on the motorcade. The party workers were protesting against Behera’s entry into the BJD fold.

Reports reaching here said the anti-Kalindi group went about ransacking the arches at Salipur. There was constant slogan-shouting against Behera. A clash erupted at the venue ofthe meeting between pro and anti-Behera groups.

Naveen Patnaik also faced a black flag demonstration by the BJD workers who were peeved at the manner in which the public meeting was organised without taking them into confidence.

The meeting also sparked off strong resentment among the rebels in the party. A prominent rebel leader alleged that the meeting was organised without informing the district and constituency committees of the party. The meeting did not draw the expected crowd because of rains.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Political Affairs Committee of the BJD Bijay Mahapatra on Sunday charged the Centre of not paying due attention to the Long Term Action Plan conceived for the overall development of the Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK) area.

Mahapatra’s statement comes barely two days after Union Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that the Centre will double allotment of funds for various poverty alleviation schemes for the KBK area.

Mahapatra said that he disagreed with the view thatthe Centre is committed to provide adequate funds for implementing the LTAP. Referring to the Union minister’s statement, Mahapatra said that doubling of funds under the Employment Assurance Scheme is nothing new. Centre has done so in the case of Gujarat and Maharashtra earlier, he added.

The BJD leader demanded formation of a cabinet committee for suggesting relaxation of norms for funding the project and monitoring its progress and expenditure. He alleged that the people of the area will not benefit if the LTAP is implemented by the present bureaucratic methods.

Alleging that the Centre is now back tracking on its commitment to provide additional funds for the implementation of the LTAP, Mahapatra maintained that it has now indicated that 50 per cent of the funds estimated for the project will be sanctioned as loan and the rest will have to be provided by the state government as matching grant. With the loan burden of the state touching Rs 11000 crore, this arrangement will not be feasible, he said.