In a contrast to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘silence’ on BJD government in Odisha during his visit to the state on Sunday, senior BJP leaders, including three union ministers hit out at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik accusing him of not being serious about farmers’ issues, many of whom have committed suicide.
The union ministers, speaking before the Prime Minister rejected ruling Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) allegation of negligence by the Centre, though Modi chose to skip the issue while addressing a farmers rally in this drought-hit zone of western Odisha.
“While the previous UPA government had sanctioned only Rs 332 crore for the droughts in 2003 and 2009, the Narendra Modi government has given Rs 815 crore for the one in 2015,” Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said.
Stating that the state government has not been able to spend Rs 4 crore sanctioned to it for issuance of soil health cards to farmers, Singh said the government should be pro-farmers and help them to boost food grain production.
He also rejected BJD’s allegation of central negligence and said the NDA government has given Rs 34,000 crore to the state as central share in 2015-16 compared to Rs 15,000 crore during the UPA government in 2013-14.
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also asked BJD to shun its slogans of central negligence as people would “laugh at them.”
Instead of stressing on distress sale of paddy and other problems faced by farmers, the state government keeps itself busy in centre bashing, he alleged.
Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram said both Patnaik and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi have no knowledge and sympathy towards the farmers.